Humpty Dumpty
by In The Shitty Land Of Oz
Summary: They stopped at the front of the room and stared into the eyes of all the students who instantly began to speak in excited voices that couldn't seem to stay hushed. And I knew why. They were all so very beautiful... almost like models.
1. So, Who Wants a Ride?

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty Sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,_

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

I hummed quietly to myself as I chopped veggies, making a small dance as I skipped across the kitchen to the fridge.

Oblivious to the fact that I had an audience, I continued this little childish act, giggling to myself every now and then.

I clicked the button on the black stove, flipping on the heat and setting the timer.

"Done." I nodded approvingly to myself.

But when my mysterious stalker started clapping, my heart skipped a beat.

I glanced up in shock and doubled over in a fit of laughter.

"My God Kali, you just about scared the crap out of me!"

My mirrored image rolled her pretty eyes. "I thought I told you to stop calling my that."

I grinned. "But that's your name," I stated, oblivious to her annoyance.

"But I hate that name!" She whined, pouting like a refused child.

"Don't we all?" I dodged the fork she chunked at me with suck a precise aim and continued on as if nothing had happened. "After all, everyone knows that _I _have the best name to have ever been _thought _of."

I popped my nose up into the air and propped my left hand on my hip and walked the 'model walk'.

I was lucky I didn't dislodge a hip bone.

Kali echoed my thoughts with a snort. "Don't hurt yourself."

And we both stared at each other for a full silent minute before we both fell to the ground clutched at our sides.

She wiped a tear from her eye and let out a sigh. "God Riot, you're such a loser."

"Takes one to know one!" I stuck my tongue out at her as I darted past her, aiming for the stairs.

Her laughter that sounded like tingling bells bounced off the walls and resounded through the apartment.

I laughed along, more quietly as I skipped towards my room.

I snatched my towel off the back of my rolling chair and hopped into my bathroom, hurrying through my shower.

I let my mind wonder as I finished my bath and continued through blowing my hair dry.

I shivered, pulled out of my thoughts as the cold rushed air hit my exposed skin.

I watched as goosebumps spread across the expanse of my arms.

I glanced up into the mirror and stopped.

This was stupid, I thought mildly. We shouldn't be having to do this, we should be saying goodbye to our parents as they rushed us out the door and into the harsh life of college.

But no, instead we had said goodbye to them fourteen years to early.

Because they hadn't wanted use.

Because we were a _problem_, that had only one _answer_.

Abandonment.

I sighed, yeah, some parents.

I shut off the blow dryer, guessing that my hair couldn't get much dryer.

I applied the usual, white eye shadow, black mascara, and some thick black eyeliner.

All topped off with the smell of my body wash called 'Smoky Silence'.

I slowed my steps as I stepped into my closet, assessing the clothes and finally choosing an outfit.

A simple black, one sleeved shirt and a pair of tight skinny jeans, finished with some small, black knee high boots with about a three inch heel.

I skipped over the mess of my room and popped my laptop into my white book bag along with a few one subject journals.

The familiar feel of my cell phone in my back pocket was a comfort as I made a grab for my helmet, wallet, and keys.

I called for my twin and she emerged from the depths of her room, ready to go.

I made small talk as we walked the few flights of stairs to get down the the parking lot. "You did put the lid on the soup pot correct?"

She nodded and hoisted her bag up higher on her shoulder.

"And you also checked the heat on the stove?"

She nodded again.

"Okay then, see ya at school then Sis." I said as we parted.

She slid into her 2007 Toyota Ft-HS Hybrid Sports Car and I straddled my baby.

I twisted the key and waited for her to her purr to life.

I dropped my shiny black helmet on my head and pulled my bag straps over both my shoulders.

I nodded for Kali to lead the way before I dropped my lens and sped after her, just barely staying to the limit.

_______________________________

It was no surprise when every head within a ten mile radius turned to take in the sight of the 'Twins' as we pulled into a parking space side by side.

We had the attention of every person in the lot.

I unclasped my helmet and yanked it off, letting my hair fly around my face and I locked and pulled the key from the ignition of my precious.

"Nice ride!" Someone called out and I grinned, yep. My baby _was_ nice.

My sleek, white Yamaha Yzf R1 Motorcycle was very nice. And very dangerous.

My grin slipped into a smirk as Kali popped open the drivers door and stepped out, one pretty Van at a time.

Multiple gasps rose from our newly formed crowd.

Already, first day, e were going to be the talk of the school.

The thought alone was enough to knock the smile from both our faces.

We shared a look and sighed.

Day one: ruined.

Joy to the world.

I stepped down from my ride, my mood soured beyond repair.

Thanks a lot, I wanted to scream at the bug eyed kids.

Changing my approach I snapped a few words and stalked up the college steps. "What? Never seen people before?" I muttered darkly under my breath.

"Mood swing much?" Kali commented, holding her head high as her eyes slid to the side, examining my now rueful look.

"Feeling bad already?"

"I can't help it. Dammit all. I probably just screwed up all chances of catching up a few friends huh?"

She sighed. "I've told you before, Anger Management classes _do _exist."

I gave a snort. "Yeah right. Like I would ever step foot inside one of _those_ places."

She paused. "What's wrong with them?"

My face turned grim. "They try to change you."

"Some things are better off left alone." She agreed and we fell into a comfortable silence.

Left, right, right, left, strait, turn, done.

I mentally checked off the directions in my head.

The moment the heavy doors clicked open, all eyes were on us, and all voices turned hushed.

Why was it that we were so different?

I followed Kali as she led the way up and past the eight rows of endless seats before she sat at an empty chair at the far back.

I dropped my bag at my feet and fell into the seat next to Kali, glaring at all the faces that continued to stare.

All but a few took my warning.

Before I could yell a word the doors opened again, but this time, instead of silence, we were met with stunned gasps.

I looked up too in wonder, and met the faces of four boys that would have gave me a heart attack had I not been in such a crappy mood.

The professor glanced up and shot to his feet as if he had been burned.

He rushed to get the door and gave a small bow, going as low as his round stomach would let him.

Now I was in shock.

What the hell was he doing?

He was a teacher, not some puppy.

He was suppose to be in his late fifties, a grown adult, not someone to be groveling at the feet of four boys.

They entered, not once looking down at the pathetic man.

They stopped at the front of the room and stared into the eyes of all the students who instantly began to speak in excited voices that couldn't seem to stay hushed.

And I knew why.

They were all so very beautiful, like models.

The one on the far left had silky looking black hair and the most startling violet eyes. They were so sharp, they almost didn't look real. I mean really, purple eyes?

The second to the purple-eyed boy had bright blonde hair with a forest green eye color. He had a pretty boy's face topped with a bottom lip piercing.

Next to him was a boy that had an annoying grin and humor filled reddish eyes. He too had piercings, two actually, one either side of his bottom lip.

Now the last boy, just taking one glance, I immediately hated him. He glared around the room, his icy blue eyes staring harshly. He, like the one next to him, had two silver pierces along with a nose stud and about five earrings on one ear, and ten on the other.

Our eyes met and his pale lips upturned into a knowing smirk.

I looked for something to throw.

The professor cleared his throat, easily capturing the attention of all eager students that were practically demanding to know the four boy's names.

"These young men have just come to join our lovely campus as the sons of the dean." Ah, suck-up act explained. "It would be very helpful if I could have a few volunteers to show these boys around, give them the heads up?" He looked around as, without a hesitation, every hand shot into the air.

Well, every hand that didn't belong to Kali or me.

We shared a look and she whispered quietly into my ear. "They're awfully pale aren't they?"

I nodded my agreement.

"Look at the one on the far right, doesn't he just make you want to throw something at him?"

She stifled a few giggles. "Try not to please? I really don't want to have to drag you down the stairs to apologize."

I rolled my eyes without thinking, reading myself to reply to her comment before I was cut off by the professor.

"Something funny young miss?" I looked up in wonder, did the man really see that eye roll?

Wow, talk about a hawk eye.

I shook my head and gave a sugary fake smile. "No, not at all"

He shook his head and sent an apologetic glance towards the boys who were staring quite intently at the pair of us, sitting so alone at the back of the room.

What? Never seen a woman before?

I returned their look, only adding a disgusted look in the process.

I didn't why I instantly felt such a harsh feeling towards some boys that I had never even seen before in my life, I just did.

Kali too, seemed to not like the looks we were getting.

When the pretty boy waved I turned away.

Damn.

He had some muscles.

Kali began typing away on her black Sony laptop as I reached for my identical white one and popped it open, ignoring the dirty looks we were receiving.

Why should we care that their were some new kids?

Sure they were new, but their dad was the dean.

Shouldn't they already know their own way around the campus?

Really, come on people. I do believe we are in college now.

Kali began e-mailing me, forgetting the fact that we were within whispering distance as the overweight teacher droned on about how we should all get to become friends with the Dean's 'Boys'.

When Kali forwarded me a picture that had been sent to her by one of our old friends, I started cracking up, trying to stay as quiet as I possibly could.

People began looking back as I started to disrupt their day dreaming and Kali whacked me on the back.

"Shut up! It wasn't that funny!"

"Yes. It. Was!" I giggled back, bitting my lip in an attempt to silence my laughs. Still didn't help my shaking form though.

"Okay, Miss Waters," The teachers voice boomed across the now quiet class. "Pray do tell what you find quite so funny about these boys."

That stopped my laughing pretty quick.

Words tumbled out of my mouth before I had even the slightest chance to think them over. "What makes you think I would be even thinking out those kids?"

Pretty boy began to protest. "I am not a kid!"

Idiot.

I opened my mouth again but this time it was the old man that cut me off once again. "Miss Waters, see me after cl-"

I jumped to my feet as Kali made a mad grab for my laptop that was one its way to tumbling to the floor.

She gave a small sigh of relief as I began to shout in agitation. "Listen here old man," I watched as his face turned a lovely shade of purple. "My name is not 'Miss Waters', Hell I don't even know where you _got _that name, my name is Riot. Learn it if you're going to use it."

I wanted to pick a fight with someone. Yes, stupid I know, but I just wanted to. So maybe that was why I was shouting over a long distance at a teacher, just because he was saying my name wrong.

Yeah, _I _was stupid.

His mouth was agape, opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Kali shot out of her seat and slapped a hand over my mouth. "I am SO sorry Mr. Bantinea. Riot here doesn't have much manors, I sincerely apologize on her behalf and my own." I began to protest loudly, though my words were nothing more than mumbles.

Kali gave a sweet smile that no one could ever resist.

We were total opposites, though, you couldn't tell one from the other.

Mr. B. flushed a reddish color and I wanted to chunk something at him for even _thinking_ about my _sister_ that way.

But she had gotten her way.

"Well then, Miss Brook," Great, so he could get_ her_ name right. We had the SAME LAST NAME! "Just keep a close eye on your," cough, "sister."

Kali just nodded, that sickly smile not once leaving her face.

I rolled my eyes again.

God... He was such an idiot.

I looked towards the four boys and found that they were lounging either against a desk, the white board, or sitting in chairs with their chins propped up on their arms. All watched the scene like it was some movie.

I knocked Kali's hand away and slumped back into my seat and flicked the professor off as he turned away.

Kali's hand, for some reason, collided with the back of my head.

I gave her a shocked and fake teary eyed look with which she waved away.

"Bitch."

"Takes one to know one." She smiled, echoing my earlier words.

I grinned back.

Leaning back, I allowed the constant talking of Mr. B. lull me to a light sleep.

Yeah, I wondered how I was passing college too.

_______________________________

I jerked awake as a pair of icy hands touched my face.

"What the fuck!" I snarled, taking in the beautiful face of the fourth boy that had stood at the front of the room, also ignoring the teacher as he had talked non-stop about them.

"Wake up, you're going to be our new guide." He growled back.

"The hell I am." I jumped from my seat and bounded down the steps, forgetting my bag.

"Yo, Old Man, there is no way in hell, I will ever have anything to do with people like them!" If he had looked surprised before, it was nothing compared to now.

"And do tell when you were ever given the choice." He raised a bushy brow and I had this sudden desire to shove my fist into that little face of his.

"Me, when it _became _me that was to show around a couple of idiots that should know by now that," I turned to the guys. "_THEY HAVE INVENTED MAPS!"_

I whipped back around to glare at the teacher as Kali too was shocked awake from the back.

"My decision had been made Miss Brook, you are to show these young men around the campus."

My voice raised as my temper flared. "THEIR DAD IS THE DAMN DEAN, THEY SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THEIR OWN WAY AROUND THIS SCHOOL!"

His face changed from purple to red to blue to back to purple before he barked back. "WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!" Then on a calmer note he added, "say another word and I'll see that you are thrown out of this school system, and you can kiss any possibility of having a proper future goodbye. Do I make myself clear Miss Brooks?"

"Crystal," I ground out through clenched teeth.

"Good, now you best be on your-"

I closed the door on the last of his words.

I stalked the halls as Kali ran to catch up to me. "Wow," She huffed. "Ever thought of trying out for track?"

And through the tension of the moment, I laughed.

"You loser."

I grabbed the bag she held in her outstretched hands. "Right, thanks."

She nodded and continued on, ignoring the four boys as they followed us.

"Why is it, that you two are so distant from the others?"

I stopped.

She stopped.

We both turned and spoke at the same time. "You still here?"

Eyes darted between us silently as if they were trying to which twin was which.

"Um," Pretty boy spoke up. "Who are you?"

"Actually, since you are following us," I started.

"The question is, who are _you_?" Kali finished.

His eye twitched.

"Right, um well, I'm Leo." he grinned and popped out his hand which was quickly dropped as we continued to stare.

"Viper," One pierced dude stepped in.

"Emmet," second pierced dude echoed, the pointed to the distant one, the one that made me want to smack him just by taking one glance at him. "And that he is Skylar."

We nodded and turned away, two hours had passed as the stupid teacher had talked about four boys and we were hungry, our classes didn't start up for another twelve hours. But that's what you get for taking a two hour class in daytime and three one-hour classes at night, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and one morning class on Saturday.

Yep, we had pretty unique schedules.

"Hey!" The Viper guy grabbed my wrist.

An involuntary shiver slid down my back, his hands were so cold... It was as if he was-

"Are you not going to tell us your names?" He cut off my thoughts.

I took a glance at Kali. "Kali and Riot."

I turned again but still didn't make it very far. "But which one is Kali and which one is Riot?"

Again, Kali and I spoke at the same time, "Me."

Viper let go in confusion as we darted away, and once out of reaching distance we slowed again. Yep, we had the tendency to think alike.

We almost laughed at the growl that emerged from behind us.

Idiots, if they had been paying attention, I was the one with the white bag, and she was the one with the black, not to mention the _shoes_. Totally different because mine made me slightly taller than Kali.

"May I have your schedule please?" Too nice Kali, too nice.

"Um, yeah, here you go," Pretty boy smiled and reached for his little white slip that he had apparently hand written his classes on. Dammit, I should have thought of that, it would have made things so much easier...

Kali just grinned back and took the paper as I read silently over her shoulder.

We both stopped at the same time.

Together, we whispered, "No. Way."

The little bastards had _EVERY _class with us!

"Fuck," I groaned.

"YOU! You're Riot!" I looked over my shoulder in confusion. "Um, right, whatever you say buddy."

I pulled my bag up higher over my shoulder and led the way out of the building.

The guys followed silently as Kali gave the slip back and moved to take a spot next to me as we walked.

"Hungry?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Then where to?" I thought for a moment, I wasn't entirely sure.... "We _could_ go by my work...."

"Not a chance, you don't get actual _food_." Ah. She was right. I was a bartender, working at the newest club called Passion. Already, I was dubbed 'The Best Damn Bartender Since 1680'. Yeah, long name, and hell, I doubt that anyone of the idiots even knew anyone that had been through 1608.

Then again, there were some that _had_, lived through that time period.... though they were exactly _alive._

Then there were the others, and they _were_ alive... but they weren't as normal as the usual people that came through while I was on my post.

Yeah.... Vampires and Shifters.

I could feel my anger rising at even the thought of those bloody creatures.

It had been six years ago when several bodies began to show up suddenly. The police were puzzled, not only because their blood had been drained out completely, but because there was no _wound_ to show _how_ they could have bled out.

There was just no answer.

Until someone came clean.

Or sort of.

They had gone to the authorities, and told them that they had _seen_ things. Thing that weren't normal. Things that had enlarged teeth were their cuspids should be and glowing eyes. And they bit, on the neck of the people they had found, and they _drank_ from the wounds.

They were vampires.

The man... was dead two hours later.

And that finally caught the police's attention.

A few months later, they had another sighting, and another, and another.

But the killing was stopping.

People were just being attacked, and left alive.... with no memories of what happened.

But they let them go.... alive.

And though I knew little information over the whole ordeal of how they convinced the people to allow the vampires to live within the cities, and to have jobs within the towns, they just did.

And once the vampires were here, they had to have something to eat right? And animals... well, that was like eating dirt. So there had to be something done.

Then came the 'artificial blood'. The stuff that was named, "Real Blood" and came in: 'A' negative or positive 'AB' negative or positive 'B' negative or positive, or 'O' negative or positive.

Yep, such an original name right?

But the thing was, scientist had somehow found a way, to make this artificial blood, taste exactly like real blood. Only problem was, they still hadn't found a way to make this "Real Blood" have the same 'filling' effects on the vampires as the human blood did.

But then came along the Shifters. Mostly wolfs, but there were the few occasional cat family shifters (ex. Panthers, tigers, house cats) and other animals. But the difference between these 'Shifters' and these 'Vampires', was that the Shifters came right out and said what they were. Showed people too.

And they too, became part of the community, thing is, they didn't drink human blood. Sure the occasional catch in the woods, but those were always animals. But they ate. A lot.

And since they were considerably stronger than the average man, they were instantly welcome to join the authorities, and they, like the vampires, were welcomed to the homes, cities, and towns.

And now, they were everywhere you looked.

Though, I hadn't really met too many.... it didn't mean they weren't there. Because people have the tendency to not see what they don't want to see.

"Hey Riot," Kali started, waking me from my thoughts. "Are you going to tell me where you want to go?"

I looked up in confusion. We were already at the vehicles...

"Um, I... don't really know."

She sighed. "How about Lou's Lou?" Oh right, I remember that place, the people who owned that dinner were brothers who happened to be named the same thing. Funny huh?

"Sure, why not?"

I started to make my way towards my bike as Kali took my helmet from her car but I stopped.

"Hey," I asked the guys. "What are you going to do? Classes don't start up for a long time."

"Twelve hours actually," Kali pitched in. She hesitated. "You can come with us... if you'd like."

I turned to her wildly. My mouth open in shock.

She just ignored me and waited patiently for their answer.

"Sure, why not."

Kali beamed and I growled.

WAY too nice Kali, way too nice.

"Did you bring your own cars?" She asked suddenly. "You can follow us, unless of course you already know the way."

"Actually," Pretty Boy speaking. "We took the bus downtown and walked here."

"You walked from downtown?" So what? I was curious.

"Yes." He turned smiling towards me.

"Why didn't you just hitch a ride?" Kali laughed.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, but that would be so like you to stand on the side of the road with you thumb out hitch hiking.

I stared.

"Thanks a lot. Really, it means the world to me." She just shook her head.

"Would you like to ride with us?"

"Why?" I grumbled. "They took the bus here, they can take it back."

Then, for some reason, my helmet hit me quite hard in the back of my head.

"Ow..." I pouted, nursing my head and checking my helmet for marks.

"It's okay," I told it. "That mean lady isn't going to hurt you any more, I promise."

She snorted. "Yeah, you know you're crazy when you start promising things to plastic objects."

"Bitch."

"I heard that."

I ducked my head, just in case some other 'magical' objects came flying my way.

"Sure..." Viper answered her previous question. "That would be quite helpful." He was eying me as I stayed in my ducking position. "Hey, are you okay?"

Kali started laughing as I shook of my bag and tossed it to her.

Ha ha, I knocked the air out her!

"Whore."

"I heard that!" I sang as I watched her place my bag inside her car.

"Hey," She said from inside the car. "I can only take three people in here."

"What." My voice was flat. There was absolutely _no_ way in hell...

"Yep," Kali said again as she emerged, "Remember all those things we had from that one party we went to? Well, we never cleaned it out from that in window seat in my car. So... it looks like one of them, is going to have to ride with you."

I was in shock for thirty seconds before I began to back away.

"Then throw it all in your trunk!"

"I can't, trunk's full too, remember, we threw the tables, the chairs, the stereo, all those things back there."

"Then cram it!"

"Can't," She turned to the four guys. "So, who wants to ride with her?"

**Okay, so I'm sorry, I have decided to create another story.**

**This one might actually turn out better because it is my own idea and not that Vampire Knight.**

**I don't really do well when copying other people's story lines.**

**Besides, it's funner when you come up with something yourself right?**

**Soo, this is my new, and improved, story.**

**Hope you all enjoy.**

**-Ashley.**


	2. And He Knew

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

Now, if this had been any other time, and other people, I would have felt offended when no one volunteered, but at the present moment, I was thanking the Lords.

Well I was, until pretty boy had to speak up. "I call shot gun in the car!" And his words left a chain effect of people calling the car, and the only one left silent, was Skylar.

Freaky Boy.

We glared at each other, me brimming with anger, and him, staying so calm and collected. It was pissing me off.

"No way," I ground through my teeth. "How about, _you_ ride with me, and let one of _them_ drive your car."

"Absolutely not."

"Why?" I demanded.

"Because, I've seen the way you drive that _thing_, you'll kill me." Oh how I wish I could kill her _now_.

I turned to face her. "He won't even fit!" I growled.

"Oh sure he would. You're small enough, just scrunch up." Any other time, I would have probably tackled her.

'Just wait,' I told her with my eyes. 'I'll kill you the moment we get home.'

She just grinned.

I stalked stiffly towards my baby and gave it an apologetic stroke. "I'm sorry." I pouted.

The three lucky guys piled into the car, pretty boy up front as I thew my leg over the seat and rolled myself out of the parking space.

I stopped and yanked on my helmet, he wasn't the one driving, he'd live.

Just as I clipped the strap he slipped on with more grace than I could have ever imagined.

His feet stood flat footed as he uprighted the bike due to his enormous height.

"How tall are you?" I groaned over the growl of my motorcycle.

"6'9, how short are you?" my elbow was just itching to bury itself into his gut.

"5 foot," And I ducked down, readying myself to speed off.

Kali pulled up next to me and I lifted up my lens long enough to hear her words.

"Meet you there?" I dropped the glass and nodded.

I was ready to, almost forgetting I had a passenger.

Well, I did until he curved his body around my own and dropped his head onto my shoulder. "You know, you shouldn't be the only one protected."

I growled back, making my opinion to his close proximity quite clear, and said as clearly as possible, or as calmly as I could manage, "You shouldn't be on my bike."

His arms tightened around my abdomen as I turned the handle so fast, I left black tire marks on the ground.

Air whipped around us as people sitting on the grass looked up in shock, hands pointed, and everything was going by in a blur.

Kali's car was coming up fast.

I turned the bike down low, almost touching the ground as I made the sharp turn around her.

She was going maybe thirty now, and I was slowly climbing into the eighties.

Yep, fast was _so _good.

I got a rush.

A high, from moving faster than most eyes could fallow.

I checked my mirror to see Kali shaking her head as she too cranked up the speed.

I pulled onto the highway, not looking for traffic as I jumped into the flow of vehicles.

I dodged car after car, their horns making a harsh song.

I could could feel the vibration of Skylar's chest as he laughed.

His heat flowed from his skin and through his shirt, it was almost too much.

I could hear the nasty thoughts building up in the back of my mind.

All of them, involving me pulling over this bike and taking him _down_. Me preferably on top.

I mentally shook my head, knocking those thoughts loose before they could stick.

That was a definite no no.

Almost as if he was listening to my thoughts, he nuzzled his face into the skin of my bare shoulder, his hot breath making me want to squirm.

Great day for a one sleeved shirt huh?

One of his hands were playing with the side of my low cut jeans as his tongue darted out between pale lips and ran a slow hot line over the dip in my collar bone.

I almost slammed on the brakes, and that, would have sent us skidding off the road.

"You bastard!" I snarled. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

He only laughed.

I was going to kill him.

I yanked a hand off one of my handles and wiped eagerly at the wetness of my skin.

He chuckled at my pitiful attempts.

I dropped my arm back down and raised the speed of my bike. Yeah, I had my bike _specially_ made.

Speed: 750+ - No questions asked.

I guess you could say, I have a way of picking out the _right_ people.

Got my bike pretty cheap too.

It helps to have the right friends in all the right places huh?

His large hand closed over my hip and I could feel his nails digging into my skin. "Slow down." He warned.

And I did, but not because he told me.

But because I caught a glimpse of a cop car that for some reason, obviously didn't turn on their speed radar.

Funny, that was just my luck.

"How did you see him?" I asked.

"Her," he corrected. And I looked back. How did he know that? I couldn't see past the reflection of the glass to tell. "And I saw her with my eyes."

I was still thinking, thus the reason I failed notice as he shifted against my back, pulling me closer and tighter against his chest.

I just continued to drive, the officer behind me all the way.

I pulled into a dinner parking space and all but shoved Skylar off the back of my bike.

I kicked down the kickstand and ripped my helmet off, unaware of how he inhaled sharply when the wind gave a harsh blow from behind me.

I propped the head protector up on the seat and stepped up to the tall boy, ignoring the way he towered over my small frame.

"If you ever pull a stunt like that again, I swear to the bloody heavens, I _will_ make you cry." I growled dangerously.

He narrowed his eyes and allowed an arrogant smirk to slip across his oh so beautiful lips. And he leaned closer, and closer, until all I could see were his harsh icy eyes and all I could feel was his breathing that sent cold shivers down my spine.

"Is that an order?" His dark voice was like velvet as his words slipped over my skin like water.

My hands shot up to shove him away but his own hand closed around both my wrists while his other reached around to pull me closer.

He pressed my hands to his chest and grinned.

Everything about him screamed _predictor_.

And I ignored all the warnings and took the bait.

"Yes, yes it is."

His hands slipped away as he took a step back, his eyes saying that we were anything but _finished_.

But seconds later, Kali's car pulled easily around the corner and slid into the available spot next to me.

She stepped out and immediately smacked me in the back of the head.

I turned on her. "What the hell, you psychotic bitch!"

"If you _ever_ go that fast again, God so help me, I will make your life living hell!"

I laughed. "You wish." And bounded over the curb and into the dinner of Lou's Lou.

"AH, Hello Riot! It has been far too long!" Lou said as he practically ran to me and picked me up off the ground, making a small spin before dropping me back down.

I swore I could hear a few of the guys growling under their breath.

"Oh I know, how have you been? And how has Lou been?" I asked, it had been a long time since me and Kali had visited.

Speaking of Kali, she stepped through the swinging glass doors, shielding her eyes from the bright lights as she spotted me talking to Lou.

"Lou!" She exclaimed. He too, picked her up and gave her a small spin.

He looked down at us with his wisdom-filled eyes.

"You both are still spitting images of each other."

We both laughed. "We always have been-"

"-and always will be." We threw an arm over one another's shoulders and grinned.

Then I frowned. "Wait," I started. "How did you know it was me when I came in and not Kali?"

He smiled. "That will forever be my secret.... and I know of no one else who can skip in those types of shoes."

We shared another laugh.

"Lou! I thought I told you that we have a job to do," His brother began yelling, coming out from within the kitchen, wiping his hands on a clean dish towel. "You don't have time to be diddling aroun-" His words cut off as he stared at us in surprise.

"GIRLS!" By now we had the attention of everyone inside the warm little dinner.

Lou jogged over to join his brother as he pulled us into another breathtaking, bone crushing, hug.

"You do not come by _nearly_ enough anymore." He scolded us.

"Ah yes, I know and I am terribly sorry. Good news is, we finally finished decorating our apartment, you should come by and check it out sometime." He nodded thoughtfully.

The Lou brothers had taken care of us from the moment our parents shoved us out on the streets without even the decency to show us the way to the children's home.

They were like family.

Like the older brothers we never had.

I almost felt the need to cry.

"So," I nudged the first Lou's arm. "can we get some seats?"

He laughed. "I almost forgot." He grabbed a handful of menus on the way past the seater stand. Lou began a pleasant chat as the second Lou began to hammer down questions on the four guys following us.

We sat at our normal booth that naturally only fit four thus resulting in the cramming because all of the other tables had been filled.

Skylar threw his arm over the top of the seat in an attempt to fit better and I was oh so conscious of the way his body pressed so intently into mine. The way his hard chest rubbed up against my back as I didn't scoot fast enough to allow access for the third boy to take a seat.

"Come on Riot, hurry up, unless of course you would rather sit in my lap." His whispers were seductive and slow in my ear, my mouth just watered with an anticipation.

"Shut up," I shot back. "I can only move so fast."

"I'd hate to see you in bed."

I rammed my elbow back into his ribs, finally satisfying my needs.

He grunted unpleasantly and I smirked. That's what you get, _sucker_.

I finally touched the wall but that didn't seem to be enough. Skylar's hard body pushed me harder against the wall and those thoughts from earlier all came rushing back at hyper speed.

I almost groaned.

"Get off me before you crush me!" I growled, desperately trying to pull him off me before I actually _did _make a noise.

"But I think you're enjoying it." His voice alone was enough to make me moan inwardly. God oh God, please, I thought, I beg you, just please, end this _torture_!

My prayer were answered when he pulled away slightly and asked over his shoulder. "You in?"

"Yeah, I think so, but please don't shove me off the end." Beg all you want buddy, I just might knock you off.

Skylar nodded.

Lou passed around menus all while glaring daggers at pretty boy and Freaky boy who were pretty close to Kali and I.

"You know," He said, his voice holding a slight hostility, "I think I could round up a few chairs for you if you'd like."

I almost cried I was so happy.

"Uh," Viper began. "I think we'll manage. Thank you though."

Sobs of sorrow.

Skylar was shaking with silent laughter.

My hand dropped on his leg near his _treasure_ and squeezed roughly.

He inhaled sharply through his teeth and I leafed pleasantly through the menu, checking out all of the choices.

His hand covered mine and yanked it off his leg.

I almost laughed at his expression.

Oh this was good.

Lou came back shortly and Kali and I ordered the same thing, a chocolate milkshake.

"And you?" He asked the boys and they shrugged.

"It will only take a few more minutes I am sure," Leo smiled graciously at Lou.

He gave a nod, a quick bob of the head and stalked off. Yep, he didn't like them too much either.

"I found it," Emmet's deep voice woke us from our chatter.

I looked up at Kali who too, was pressed up against the wall and glanced sideways at Skylar who was staring intently at Emmet.

"You sure?" Pretty Boy asked.

Emmet raised a brow. "No, I'm just imagining the word."

"What word?" My question was left unanswered.

They waved Lou down and all shared a questioning look.

"Okay, we're ready. We would all like the- um- the Real Blood."

At first the words didn't register within my subconscious, not until Lou gave them the most dirty look he could have ever managed. "And what blood type would you like?" He ground out.

Leo gave him a questioning look and cleared his throat. "I would like the A+."

Emmet, "AB-"

Viper, "Same."

Skylar, "The O-"

That was my blood type, and that was Kali's blood type. I almost screamed in horror.

The fucking bastards were VAMPIRES!

BLOODY VAMPIRES!

I shivered. I had let a vampire _lick _my neck. I had let a vampire _touch_ me. I had let a _blood-drinking vampire HOLD ME_!

I felt sick.

I wanted to run.

Run away and never look back.

I brought my weary eyes to Lou's demanding ones. He looked at me as if to say 'Me, you, her, Kitchen, N.O.W.'

I wasn't sure I could manage that one.

He walked away, as calmly as ever as Emmet casually asked, "Is he okay?"

"Just peachy." Was that too cold? Whoops, great way to throw yourself under the speeding bus, really, couldn't have done it any better.

"I have to go to the bathroom." I stated suddenly.

"Me too." Kali pipped up.

Viper looked slightly suspicious. "How come?"

"How rude," I frowned. "You just asked why a lady needs to use the restroom. Have you no dignity?" He looked shocked.

"Uh, no, I didn't mean it like that- I just- Go ahead." Yep, play the innocent card. They'll never suspect a thing.

I looked expectantly towards Skylar and Emmet. "Are you going to let me pass?"

Emmet moved to stand, But Skylar didn't move.

"Go right ahead, no one's stopping you."

Cold. Hearted. Bastard.

I should shove my spoon through your stupid little heart. Oh wouldn't _that _hurt?

I started to crawl over him, ignoring the wide eyed look from Kali.

Yep, not at all crawling over some blood thirsty creature. He's just some extremely horny kid who has to pay hookers just to look at his-

I almost gave my trademark 'Evil Grin' and turned up the background crackling flames and the Dun-Dun-Dun music.

That was it, he was a _guy_. Or as close to a guy as you could get...

I brought my knee down _hard_ on his _precious_.

Ha ha, sucker.

I slipped out of the seat not once glancing back.

Kali and I walked side by side as we made our way towards the kitchen.

"Hey man," I heard one of the guys ask quietly. "Are you alright?"

I died trying to keep the laughter in.

The Kitchen doors swung shut behind us as the Lou brothers popped into view.

"You're hanging around with _Vampires_." It was more of a statement than a question, but I still felt the need to clarify ourselves.

"Actually, we just found out too. Our teacher demanded that we take on the role of showing the Dean's baby boys around the campus."

"Refuse him!"

"I tried."

"Try again!"

"I almost got kicked out, and I s_till_ would have had to show the bloody demons around the school."

"He can't kick you out."

"He can if he gets all of the teachers to protest with him." I growled.

Lou paused. "You've made enemies with... _all_ your teachers?"

"N-"

Kali cut me off. "Yes."

"Liar!" I exclaimed, jabbing my finger at her as I jumped away in my shock. "It's a conspiracy I tell you, a conspiracy!"

"Oh shut up."

I pulled my head back as if I had been offended. "You wound me dear sister."

"Like I said, Shut Up."

"Hooker."

A pan collided with the back of our heads and I stood frozen, eyes wide.

"What the Crap!" We all but screamed.

"Stop arguing. We don't have time to listen to your pointless jabber. I want them gone. Now. They can finish their blood, but I don't want you to hang out with them." The Lou brothers stood tall, proud, both holding a frying pan at attention, almost as if they were ready to hit us again.

"Sorry Mother, but it's easier said than done." I huffed.

"They share every class with us." Kali continued.

"But..." Lou one started.

"You two don't have every class together."

"Right you are, but we both have at least ONE of them in a class at a time."

Lou rolled his eyes. "Get a schedule change."

"I can't."

"And please do tell why not."

"Because it's too much damn trouble."

"Watch your language!" The grunted in together.

And I laughed. I laughed because this was STUPID! Stupid and pointless, and... It was _never going to end_.

"You are worrying about my usage of words, when you are telling me to stay away from some _psychotic, natural-born, KILLER_!" All heads in the kitchen turned to stare at our unusual conversation.

Lou blinked. "Yes, I guess I am."

I shook my head. "Right, drinks ready yet? Come on Kali, I think we have overstayed our welcome in the _Lady's Room_.

She laughed as the Lou brothers shared a look of confusion. We gave a small wave and headed out the swinging doors.

Immediately the boys on Kali's side jumped up, allowing her an easy access.

Unfortunately, I was not that lucky.

Emmet moved, but once again, Skylar did not.

"Move." My face and voice remained blank.

"I think I deserve an apology." He feigned innocence.

I gave a bitter laugh. "So sorry, don't apologize to Vamps."

He cocked his head. "What ever you say, princess."

Yep, you are going to meet that spoon. _Real_ soon.

I practically leaped over his lap, or I would have had he not decided to cheat and use his 'super powers'.

His hand came up faster than I could have seen and he yanked me down into his lap. Emmet sat quickly, blocking me of at least one escape.

He fastened arm around my waist hand dropped his chin on the top of my head. "So, I'm a psychotic natural-born killer am I?" He spoke as if we discussing the weather.

My heart almost froze.

I raised my guilty eyes to Kali's.

Identical expressions.

Because we had been thinking the same thing. Even though I was the only one who had said something.

"Um, I have no idea what you are talking about?" He chuckled, his laugh vibrating through my body, sending a tingling sensation all the way down, touching my fingertips and toes.

Oh... yum.

I wanted to smack myself.

I was such an idiot.

"I'm sure you don't."

I nodded, my head bobbing quickly as I shuffled around, trying to subtly _shift_ off his lap and onto the actual seat.

I mouthed 'help' to Kali but she just shrugged, almost as if to say, 'and what do you want me to do about it?'

If I could have, I would probably would have chunked a fork in her _direction_.

Accidentally of course... though she may not believe it....

I gave a hard shove. To hell with discretely.

"Lemme go!"

His arm tightened and my mind immediately went into 'drooling' mode. He had some nice arms, and while I was thinking about it, he had a pretty damn good stomach too.

No.

Oh look at the way his muscles flexed under my touch.

No.

And how he had a musky smell that only someone like _him_ could pull off. It was like a drug. Leaving you wanting for more. Just one more smell. Maybe a taste-

DAMMIT! I SAID NO!

I made a grab for the spoon and managed to grab hold of it before his hand clamped down on mine. Hard.

"What the hell were you planning to do with a spoon?"

I paused. "I was going to scoop out your liver and feed it to you. What else did you think I was going to use it for? A stake?"

He gave me an exasperated look.

"Really? A spoon? A spoon that was located conveniently close to a _knife_?"

I stared. "Did you _want_ me to stab you?"

"It wouldn't have done anything."

.....

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Damn."

And they all laughed. Well, all if you exclude Kali and me.

Bastards.

Every one of them.

A few moments of 'Laugh at Riot' they all sort of calmed down and I even convinced Skylar to put me back on the seat.

I was working on that hand though that just didn't seem to _want_ to leave my hip.

"You know, it does seem extremely hard to gulp down your _blood_ with just _one_ hand."

He grinned. "Thank you for your _loving_ concern, but I think I'll manage."

I eyed the fork again. Even if it wouldn't kill him, it would bring me some satisfaction... not to mention it would hurt like a mother....

Very tempting.

VERY tempting.

I was awaken from my thoughts when a tray dropped onto the table and Skylar's hands immediately jerked away to save the drinks.

"Oops. Clumsy me." That was _defiantly_ not Lou. Or... I hoped to the mighty heavens it wasn't.

"Thank you so much for helping me out, I don't know what I would have done had the drinks tipped." Yeah... this chick was a pretty obvious flirter.

Skylar smiled and gave a pleasant nod. "Of course." She gave a giggle and met the eyes of every guy and flipped back her hair and bared the skin of her throat, which just went to show she knew exactly what these guys were.

They all shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

Girl, I wanted to tell her, keep it up and you're going to get more than you bargained for.

Instead, I said, "Hey, watch where you flip your hair, wouldn't want to get some in our _drinks_ now."

She glared I smirked.

Kali kicked me under the table and I kicked back.

Which slowly turned into a staring, kicking, and laughing contest.

She shot a kick to my shin and I yelped. "That's cheating!"

She shook her finger playfully. "It's only cheating if you have rules."

I stuck out my tongue and turned towards the girl that was staring at us with two perfectly waxed eye brows up halfway to her hairline.

"You still here?"

She rolled two russet colored eyed and dropped our two shakes roughly on the table and I had to make a dart for mine to make sure it wouldn't tip.

"Bitch." I grumbled as I checked my drink for any signs of 'poison' or 'hair'.

_Seemed_ clean enough... but you never know.

I looked over just in time to see her set down a glass of Skylar's O- and give him a quick flash of some extreme cleavage. I had to bit my tongue.

Must not harass Lou's waitress, I told myself. But it was almost to good of a chance to pass up.

So Kali did it for me. "Girl! Pull up your shirt! What would your Mother say is she saw you displaying yourself like a hooker?"

At this, the girl placed the rest of the drinks 'not so nicely' down on the table and turned away without another word.

When she got far enough away Kali and I shared a quick 'low five' under the table.

That was good.

Fun too.

But really, if you're going to flirt, make sure you know _how_. That was treading dangerous water right there.

"Now was there in any real need for that?" Emmet asked, amusement bright in his eyes.

"Probably not." I grinned.

"But it was sure as hell funny." Kali agreed thoughtfully as she silently began sucking on her shake.

I clasped two hands around my cold glass and took a long sip while I ran my finger over the rim of my cup, frowning slightly.

Mm, chocolate.

A dangerous substance.

I released the poor straw and straitened up to watch as Skylar lifted the glass of O- to his lips and I caught a glimpse of his fangs as they grew a small length. Practically unnoticeable... if you weren't looking for it.

His eyes slid to the side and I watched as an intense blue seemed to brighten and sharpen. Little flecks of white appeared more in the icy frost that was the color of his eyes.

I shivered.

I turned back to my drink, knocking my hair loose from behind my ear to cover my face as I drank.

Everything about him was dangerous.

The way he walked.

The way he talked.

The way he smelt...

It was all so irresistible, and I was not immune.

His whole attitude screamed Power.

And his eyes said harsh things that no one ever heard.

And I was drawn to him.

I just couldn't stay away.

What had he done to me?

I couldn't breath.

I couldn't think.

And he knew.

He knew that I felt what others felt.

I was unconsciously attracted towards him. There was nothing I could do.

So I hid, I hid and hoped that he would just get bored and move on.

And I hid, even though I knew he would find me.

He knew.... That I was scared.

And he loved it.

**Okay, I think I did it.**

**Oh my Goodness.**

**I got quite a handful of reviews.**

**Thank you so much.**

**I appreciate the good words and the criticism, because after all, If I'm not told what I do wrong, how could I ever fix it?**

**I would like to thank the following people for being my first reviewers.**

**It means a lot to me.**

**'Al-ee-sin'**

**when I look in ur eyes**

**c.a.s 1404**

**Bluelighteninggirl**

**FPK**

**jaceshadowhunter**

**Like I said, thanks a lot.**

**-Ashley**


	3. Foolish Man

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

I watched Kali with a calculated expression, not quite sure were else to look.

I could still feel the intense burn of his eyes on my body, and suddenly, I wanted to cover myself with something. Like a coat maybe.

And then I asked myself, why was I still here?

I knew what they were, and I knew what had happened to every person before me, yet I couldn't seem to leave.

I couldn't make myself _want_ to leave.

And that in itself was scary.

Because... I knew that was not my feeling.

It was a fake feeling that someone had produced and wove around me like a blanket.

The feeling, was not mine.

Right?

That annoying voice was back and the first thing I could think of, had she no shame?

But this time, it was different. Her expression and tone, it was all changed.

Her face was pulled into something of a genuine smile, and she had taken our advice and pulled up her shirt. She looked down at us with a kindness I failed to see where she found.

She was like a whole other person.

"Would you like some more?"

She looked at Kali, and then me. We both shook our head."Thanks," I muttered dropping my eyes back to the table.

We had been a bitch to someone like _this_. It almost didn't seem possible.

She made her rounds, asking everyone at the table though she only refilled Viper's, Skylar's, and Leo's glass.

She all but skipped away in her glorious mood.

.....Mood swing? Maybe...

I was almost unaware of how Skylar's hand dropped from the top of the booth's seat and down around my waist, or I was until he ran a cold finger down my back, following the expanse of my spine before curving out and tracing the bone of my hip.

My body was begging to moan. Just as my eyes were pleading to droop, and just as my head was asked to drop.

I ignored the feelings, locking them away.

I had too much stuff to do.

I couldn't already be tired.

The drinks came back as quickly as they left and those were quickly drank as the boys talked among themselves, laughing and joking like regular people.

Yeah, regular vampire people. What a pleasant change.

I had long ago knocked off Skylar's arm but now it hung back over the top of the seat, dangerously close to my shoulders.

I took a glance at my phone, the time had slipped by so quickly, I hadn't even realized it. We had been in the diner for three hours.

And I was really tired.

It was time to go. We only had nine hours left, might as well put those nine to good use.

I waved down our transformed waitress and asked for the check. She nodded smiling and handed it over easily.

Seventeen sixty-eight. Wow, those drinks were expensive weren't they?

I started for my wallet when the check was pulled out of my hand.

I looked up in surprise when Emmet checked out the amount and pulled a twenty from his pocket. He tossed it on the table and slipped out of the booth.

Following suit I took one last sip and pulled myself away reluctantly.

Kali connected arms with me as we made our way towards the door. "What do you want to do?" She whispered, knowing full well that the vampires could hear us as if she were yelling.

"Go home and _sleep_," I groaned. "I don't know why, but I just began to feel tired..."

She nodded. "I know right? It's like it just hits you."

"Would you like us to give you a ride home?" Kali asked, her kindness never wavering.

Pretty boy turned around and I swore I saw a frown before his mouth upturned into a smile.

I stared in confusion before I noticed the tugging on my arm.

I turned and muttered a quick, "What?"

She blinked. "Are you going to ride with Skylar?"

I froze. That's right. He had rode with me on the way here, and he was probably going to have to ride with me on the way back.

I looked at her silently, thinking over my choices. "Tell them that their going to need a bus pass, because this is going to be the last time.

She nodded and sent me a sly grin.

"You say that now, but just wait, you'll be _begging_ him to _'ride'_ you." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she made a mad dash towards the door.

"YOU HOOKER!" I screamed.

And I faintly heard the call of "LANGUAGE!" From within the kitchen.

I cracked a grin.

_______________________________

I dropped painfully on my bed.

"That bastard," I fumed. "Who the hell did he think he was?"

On the way back he had decided it would be funny to squeeze my stomach till I was squirming. He even made me say I was, dare I think it, _sorry_.

I heard a knock break the silence of the quiet apartment but thought nothing of it when I heard the lock being unlicked and the door being opened.

All was quiet for a few minutes before I heard the door close again.

"Riot." Hey, that was my name!

I slipped as quietly as I could of the bed and got low to the ground. My hand reached up slowly, as if afraid of being seen and quietly opened the door.

Like a cat, I crept through the halls, my back to the wall and my hands clasped in front in the shape of a gun.

Mentally, I played off the James Bond music in my head.

I peeked around the corner, gun at ready, and held my breath.

It was clear.

One step, two step, three step, four step. Again. One step, two step, three step, four step. Quiet still! One step, Two step, Three step, four s-

"I see you."

I froze, but for some reason, my legs had decided to keep on moving.

My left foot tripped over the right and I the next thing I knew, I was sprawled out on the floor. A look of utter shock on my face.

"Smooth."

I looked up into the face of my twin and scream as loud as I could. "THEIF! YOU STOLE MY FACE!"

She fell back on her butt staring down at me.

"You LOSER!" She yelled and grabbed the nearest pillow and slammed it down on my head. "YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!"

I was cracking up as I tried to dodge her attacks and get up to get my own pillow.

An hour later, I was making a made dash for the kitchen.

The Bitch stole my face AND my weapon.

This meant WAR.

And I knew the perfect way to get her back too....

I could almost hear my mind crackling with Evil Laughter.

I dove for the freezer and snatched the small strawberry ice cream container from its freezing prison.

"NO!" She screamed. "MY ICE CREAM!"

I let loose a wild laugh and made a dive past her to snatch a spoon from the counter.

"NO, I'M BEGGING YOU!" She dropped to her knees and clasped together her hands.

"MUWAHAHAHA!" I threw my hands into the air like you see on those corny television shows.

I pulled off the cold lid and she gasped, scooting closer in her moment of panic. "Please, don't eat my precious.... PLEASE!" I dipped in the spoon.

"NO!" She gave one last cry of defeat as I popped the spoon filled with the sugary substance into my mouth.

I stopped, looked at the carton, and wrinkled my nose. "Uh... right, you know what, I think I'm going to stick to me chocolate ice cream.... This stuff is pathetic in comparison. You know that?"

She gasped again. "You fiend! How dare you insult my baby!"

......

"You eat your baby?"

She paused. "I take that back."

I grinned and dropped the strawberry stuff into her awaiting hands and checked out the freezer again for _my_ "drug".

-M**o**M**e**N**t**S **l**A**t**E**r**-

We plopped onto the awaiting couch to munch on our frozen little thing we liked to call a piece of heaven.

Kali had fixed up the surround sound to blast as I searched for the remote.

"Hey Kali," I called over my shoulder. "Have you seen the clicker?"

"Yep."

"Where is it?"

"In my hand."

I turned around with a frown on my face. "Well, why didn't you tell me?"

She blinked. "I didn't know what you were looking for."

I sighed. "Yes you did." I accused.

She shook her head violently. "I swear I didn't!"

"Liar." I huffed under my breath as I stomped back to the couch. I didn't even need to get up!

"Oh I know," She pouted. "Life's just not fair is it?"

I crossed my arms and looked away, saving the last of my dignity.

I would _not_ stoop to her level.

She began to laugh like she knew what I was thinking.

"Just play the damn movie." Whoops, bye bye Big D.

"Alright, alright. Sheesh, try not to kill me 'k?"

I bit my lip in a thinking jester. "I make no promises."

She gave me a playful shove in the shoulder and played the movie.

"Hey," I asked. "What are we even watching?"

She hesitated. "Um, I actually don't know."

I frowned at her. "How do you not know?"

"I just don't."

"Loser."

"Takes one to-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She grinned.

I shifted till I was comfortable and began scooping mouthful after frozen mouthful of ice cream, filling my tummy with the sugary sweetness.

Yum.

_But,_ my mind countered. _Still not quite as yummy as Skylar._

I almost dropped the spoon.

_No, bad mind. Bad._

I looked over to find Kali staring at me.

"So," She nodded. "You scold yourself often?"

"Oh... I said that out loud?"

"Uh huh."

"Oh... then forget you heard a thing."

"Forgotten."

Kali picked up another remote and the lights began to dim. And mildly, I wondered where the hell she found all of her little clickers.

....

Then again, some things are better left unknown.

I opened my mouth to ask Kali another question when the speakers blared, finally coming to life.

We both jumped a couple feet off the cushions.

But the good news was, I found out what we were watching!

The Shining.

A pretty good movie I guess... but it wasn't really that scary, more of a mind thing. But I watched with no comment, because, well, I didn't feel tired anymore and I needed something to do to pass the time.

The movie slipped by easily, and about halfway through our mouth were hanging open and our eyes were glued to the screen, the ice cream long gone.

We had just come to the part were some man was walking through the hotel and then, BAM, out popped crazy-psycho-man wielding an ax.

And right when crazy-psycho-man brought that ax down on the guys chest, a knock sounded at our door.

We didn't even look away from the screen.

"No!" I wailed, "He was such an IDIOT!"

A louder knock. Still ignored.

I sighed. "Poor, poor man."

Kali nodded, still to fixed on the movie, I doubt she even heard what I had said.

Then there was a bang.

I launched myself into Kali's arms as she froze to the spot.

"Oh my god," I whispered, my eyes beginning to fill with warm, unwanted tears. "It's him, he has an ax, and... oh my- He's going to kill us Kali! Do something!"

She brought her wild eyes to mine. "And what the hell do you want me to do?"

I paused. "Get a knife, yeah, like that one chef the other day had. You know the one you thought looked really cool?"

Okay, so what, we were getting off topic here, but still. Besides... I didn't really think there was anyone at the door.... Really, honestly, I didn't.

Another bang and I yelped.

Kali shoved me off of her and onto the cold wood floor. "Go get it!" She hissed.

I almost cried. She was going to give up her own flesh and blood to satisfy her curiosity?

Her own TWIN!

Well.... can't say I wouldn't do the same thing.

I almost grinned at the thought.

"What," She asked quietly. "Chicken."

"As if." I scoffed.

"Prove it."

"I will."

Oh Lord, what have I done?

I walked, very bravely I might add, to the still banging door.

I locked up the first latch, bringing the chain around to sit in it's little hole as I undid the main lock.

Very carefully I opened the heavy door and peeked around the corner, staying well away from the chain.

It was Skylar, standing there in all his Skylar-y glory.

"What do you want?" Okay, that might have been just a _little_ to harsh, but what was I suppose to say? 'Hey Skylar, guess what, I had a fantasy about kidnapping you and raping you the best way a human can rape a vampire.'

Okay again, so what, maybe that wasn't exactly true.... I doubt it could have been considered kidnap if he had _willingly_ come along. And the rape... well, you can't rape the willing. Or in my case, you can't even _move_ the vampire.... So I think the idea all in itself was a little out of my league.

But it would have been nice.

Maybe.

I think.

Hell, if it was with him, I think _anything_ would have been great.

But that was just me.

"That was cold."

"Yeah? Well I'm cold, and like I said, What do you want?" And true to my word, a gust of cold wind came rushing up, blowing my hair around my face between the crack in the door and wall.

Through the dark, I could just barely make out the faint outline of the stairs that lead the way past our two downstairs neighbors. Stupidly, I never thought to wonder why it got so dark so early in here, but, the thing was, it was _always_ dark early. I mean really, it was like four or five. It was almost ridiculous.

"Who is it?" Kali called from behind me.

"A killer, like I said. Who else?" I called over my shoulder, finally getting how that could all piece together.

"Oh. Well, tell him I said hi."

I turned back to Skylar and opened my mouth. "Yeah I know, tell her the _'killer'_ says hi back."

I nodded and went to turn back around but his words stopped me. "You do realize I was just kidding with you right?

I nodded quickly. "Of course, just wanting to see if _you_ knew."

He stared.

Time for a subject change much?

"So..." I nodded, waving him on. "Why are you here?"

He smirked. "Why won't you unlock the chain and invite me in?"

"I asked first."

He sighed. "I decided to stop by and say hi. I got my car back by the way."

I raised an eyebrow. "I never knew it was missing."

He rolled his icy eyes. "Funny, really. I think I just heard a rib crack."

My lips slipped into a little grin. "So, hello Pretty Boy."

Silence.

"Aww man! How did you know?" Leo asked as he stepped into view.

I opened the door further, pulling at the chain now.

"Where'd you come from?"

He blinked once. Twice. "You mean you had no idea I was here?"

I shook my head slowly. "Skylar here just said, 'I stopped by to say hi', so, I was telling him hi. And how did you know I called you pretty boy?"

"No reason, just a guess."

I frowned. "But that doesn't make sense!" I whined.

"I know." Different voice, different place, different person.

I almost screamed. "What the hell! Is _everybody_ here!"

"Pretty much. Hey Riot, what's up?"

"Oh hello Emmet, nothing really. But seriously," I said turning to Skylar once more. "Why is everyone here?"

"Oy, why don't I get an hello?"

"Hello Viper, now.... WHY ARE YOU HERE!"

"Simple," Emmet. "To say hi."

"Hi." I pulled my head in to close the door.

"Wait!" They all shouted at once. "Can't we come in? We could hear a movie playing... and you know us, we like to watch movies."

I almost rolled my eyes. "That was probably one of the most lamest things I think I have ever heard in my life. You know that?"

Pretty Boy grinned. "Did it work."

A few seconds later I sighed. "I guess."

And I closed the door.

"Hey Kali." I called.

"Hey what?"

"All of the guys are here."

Silence. Rustling.

"Why?"

"Because you know them, they heard our movie and, they like to watch movies!"

"...Right."

I laughed and unlocked the door and left the chain to hang.

"You may come in now, doors unlocked."

And I walked away. Back towards the warmth and back towards the show.

"Hurry up, we only have so much time before we have to go back to class."

"I know, I know." Pretty Boy sighed. "No need to have a heart attack Mother."

"Hey, I ain't your Mother!"

"I hope to God your right."

I wanted to throttle the boy.

Heh, that would be kinda funny.

I plopped down on the couch next to my warm twin and sighed as I snatched the blanket from the back of the couch.

Just as I had thrown it over myself, I was pulled back into something REALLY cold.

"What the hell!" I growled as I was cuddled like a stuffed toy.

Skylar laughed, blowing a cold air into my ear. I shivered. So much for the blanket.

"You know," Emmet grinned, and I should have known something was up when his eyes began to twinkle, like he had heard a good joke. "Since you just invited us into your home, we now can come and go whenever we'd like."

I frowned. "Huh?"

Kali had yet to start the show and was more concerned with Pretty Boy that had, for some reason, wedged himself between her legs on the ground as was reclining against the couch. But I swore I saw her ear perk at the sound of Emmet's bold comment.

"We are Vampires and you have just invited us four, Viper, Leo, Skylar, and me, into your home correct?"

I nodded.

"Then, according to our laws, we now have the right to come and go as we please."

I turned to Viper as if to see if what Emmet spoke was the truth. Viper nodded.

I sighed. Great. My day just kept getting better and better.

First, we met four boys who we found out were vampires, second, the four boys are now in our home, third. Well third, I was being held by a very _sexy_ vampire that I knew very little about. Thus, I figured, I must change this.

Reluctantly, I pulled myself away form the cold arms of Skylar and dropped to the floor, landing with a thump beside Pretty Boy.

I made sure I had taken down my blanket with me.

Ha ha, you have done the better thing Riot.

Good girl, I praised myself.

"Good girl?" Emmet whispered to Kali.

"Don't ask."

"Just play the damn movie," I pouted. That was the _second_ time today I had been caught thinking out loud.

The movie came back to life as we watched the poor, poor man get all chopped up.

I guess I had fallen asleep sometime between then and ten minuted later, for I was being shook awake and I wasn't at the house.

Nope.

No where close.

Instead, I was in a car.

Correction. A very _nice_ car.

"Ah, so sleeping beauty awakes does she? Well good, we're here, grab your bag, class starts in six minutes, and we have art next. She doesn't really like late student's does she? I mean, I don't really want to make a bad impression on myself and all but-"

"You're rambling." I pointed out, stopping him mid-sentence to save him some of his dignity. "I'm guessing they left you alone with me and they told you that I was very violent when I was woken up right?"

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?"

"Because they were right." I growled and snatched my bag form the floorboards.

Really, I had nothing against college, nor Viper, nor going to art class to be taught by a man that was in his mid twenties, barely older than myself. It was being pulled from the bliss darkness I liked to call sleep. I hated being forced awake, but then again, I could go days without waking up for many reasons. I tended to forget eating every now and then, and thus was the reason for Kali installing a speaker next to my bed. One that was like an alarm clock... Yet, without the _snooze_ button. The _salvation_ button. _MY_ salvation button.

Damn that little genius to hell and back.

I stomped ahead, shivering and watching my breath leave my mouth and wisps of steam.

Snow... was falling.

I wanted to stop, and to watch as the pretty little flaks fell down to Earth without a car in the world. Like they didn't know that they were going to die the moment they touched the ground because it was still to warm to stick.

But, I didn't.

Because I hated the snow. And everything it stood for.

Just like I hated my parents when they decided to give themselves a Christmas gift and leave us on the snow covered streets.

The memory... I hated it.

I wanted to throw something and I wanted to yell. I wanted to let people know.... Let them know, that I wasn't okay.

wanted someone to look at me, and know I was lying. Because they could see right through my _façade of words. Because I didn't want to have to lie and hide._

Me and Kali were more alike then anyone could ever know. Because, we were so the same, we didn't even know when the other was hiding the feeling of loneliness.

Sure, we had each other.

But we had had each other for such a long time, it was like talking to yourself in the mirror.... and the mirror talking back.

We were so the _same_.

It almost hurt.

An arm slipped around my shoulders and I looked up in shock.

Viper had pulled me close to his tall body and made a shushing noise. "It's okay, you don't have to cry."

I wasn't crying. What was he-

What was that?

That warm spot on my cheek.

I reached up slowly, aware now that we had stopped, and touched the drop of warm water with the tip of my finger.

Pulling my finger away I examined it with care.

And there, in all its glory, was the first real tear I had shed for my parents since I realized the reason they had given us up.

It wasn't for money. Because I could have lived with that.

And it wasn't because of death, because I could have lived with that too.

No, it was because they hadn't w_anted_ us.

Because we were an accident.

And we weren't worth it.

And they almost killed us.

Abortion.

Yep, that was the path they almost took.

But that, they thought, was like murder.

So instead, they had told us to get out.

To pack what we wanted in our little treasured back packs and leave. Because we, the little six year olds we were, were no longer part of the family.

We were just some homeless kids that they had _graciously_ cared for out of the kindness of their hearts. But now, their debts were payed and they just couldn't afford to have anything to hold them back from having the real life they had wanted. Without the accident children.

So they had to cut something out of the picture.

And that was us.

So they held the door open for us as we walked out, not even a confused tear on our identical cheeks as we watched the heavy wood close on the world we used to know.

And that... had been the end of our old easy lives, and the beginning of our hard, rough new one.

We never even thought to sit down and cry.

To curse the Gods for being so cruel, because as the woman who had played our Mother, had once told us, that we we were born twenty.

Without the helpless feeling that everyone else had.

Because we were not normal, she ignored us, and was later dubbed as the Role Playing Woman Who Played Mother.

But she was no Mother, because no Mother would ever drink a glass filled with whiskey, and tell her children that the door was waiting.

Because we were unwanted, and unwantable.

We left without a fight. Without a tear. And kept our little heads up high, while our little broken hearts continued to fall, and sink, into the thickness of the nothing that was held deep within the darkness of our souls.

We weren't worth the trouble.

Skylar's coat dropped heavily on my shoulders and I looked up, aware of how my eyes blurred so and the way I sniffed like a crying kid.

"What?" Skylar's voice was kind, different as I stared at him, still wondering why he was here, when he had French to learn.

And where Viper had gone.

"What are you... doing?"

He looked down and cocked his head to the side. "Taking care of you, what does it look like?"

"Like someone trying to find a reason to ditch class." I laughed, cracking one of my lame jokes that I used to hide the feelings that were boiling inside.

"Ha. And you believe that one?"

"Of course, if I didn't believe it, would I have said it?"

"Why are you crying?" He asked softly, and I momentarily felt fear clutch at my heart and my veins freeze as my blood frosted over.

"Because, I think the sky is beautiful." My ability is to think quick... and to lie.

Because it was all I ever knew how to do. Even after we had been found by the Lou Brothers, we continued in the fake lifestyle of the guys, knowing nothing but trickery and self preservation until we became of age to leave the house and afford our own place.

And together, Kali and I, cracked our own shell enough to smile.

And we faked our way through life.

Because that was us.

And that is all we would ever really be.

"Foolish Man." I whispered to myself as I watched Skylar walk off. "All you see is... is what I want you to see."

And stupid me, forgot the part of him that made him so special.

His ability to be everything I wanted to be.

But nothing ever changed, and it would always be me I called Foolish.

And it would always be me that I lied to.

And it would always be me that Felt the pain that Kali never knew.

Because.... my parents, our parents, had made the choice.

And left us alone.

And that was all we ever chose to know.

Was how to be a Foolish Man.

**Yes, Yes, I know.**

**This ending was absolutely STUPID!**

**But when I wrote it, I had not the heart to erase it.**

**So maybe I can fit everything together in a comedy, romance, drama filled way.**

**Maybe.**

**Because if not, I may have to fall back to drawing board.**

**Or in my case, the drawing paper, but whatever.**

**Yes, My favorite ice cream (and candy) _is _in fact chocolate.**

**I am sorry if you do not feel the same way. But In reality, I am eating chocolate now.**

**It is my... brain food, lol.**

**Okay, this would have been our yesterday, but my friend practically kidnapped me so she could take me to go see Twilight.... for the fourth time.**

**And I may go again later on this week with my Mom.**

**Ah... my poor little piggy bank.**

**-Sigh-**

**Special thanks to these certain people for reviewing!**

**arya-v**

**FPK**

**c.a.s 1404**

**when I look in ur eyes**

**'Al-ee-sin'**

**Reviews really do mean a lot to me.**

**It just tells me that people like my story enough to tell me...**

**And right now, I think this has been, and will be, the longest A/N I have ever written.**

**(Ps. I really do love The Shining. It was a damn good show.)**

**Good Night my peoples, Till next time.**

**-Ashley.**


	4. All It Took

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

Talent.

Art.

The act of expressing yourself with a picture.

Something I seemed to lack.

But Viper, well, I think he could make a stick figure, and _still_ kick _my_ stick figure's ass.

I almost growled in annoyance.

"Okay, show off, I think you're done." He continued drawing. "No seriously." ... "Okay man, if you draw anymore, you're going to kill it."

He stopped.

"Now, step to the side."

"No way."

"Why not!"

He sighed. "I already told you, I'm not done." I rolled my eyes. How can you NOT be done, you've been at it for an hour!"

"An hour isn't enough to finish a _good_ drawing."

"And why the hell not?"

"Because," He growled. "It's just not."

"But you're a vampire! Shouldn't you be fast-"

"No!" A few heads turned and I almost grinned in a smug satisfaction. "No," He said more quietly. "Now stop asking."

"But Mother!"

He ground his teeth together and I looked away to continue on my 'piece of art work' rolling my eyes. "You should stop doing that you know, you might just grinddown your _fangs. _And God knows we don't want that right?"

"Shut up, your opinion isn't needed, nor is it wanted."

"Touchy."

"Only for you babe."

"I feel so special."

He laughed as I zoned while I 'colored' the sky. Or, if you wanted the truth, while I marked scribbles all over the pretty little paper. Actually, not so pretty paper, but who cares.

The teacher made his rounds, leaning over me to point out some obvious mistakes, like, my strokes were to long, or I wasn't shading properly. Like, when I moved the pencil up the paper, coloring in the sky, I needed to shade darker. And I nodded, soaking up the helpful tips, just hoping I could learn just enough, to pass this course.

What I hadn't noticed was the steadily growing growl that was pulling itself from my neighbors chest.

When the male teacher walked away, I couldn't help the way my eyes slid over to watch the way his ass moved when he walked. There was something wrong with this picture, I know, but damn, he was twenty-five, only four years older than myself.

And if the rumors were correct, he had skipped maybe four grades, graduated from this school top of his class, _and_ landed himself a job at his favorite college. He was a definite hottie. Not to mention a player, but what the heck, someone with _those_ looks, and oh god, can't forget that sexy Australian accent, could get a _license_ to be a player.

"That's sick."

I was pulled from my small daydream to turn towards Viper with a raised eye brow. "What's sick? The fact that he totally skipped you, without as much as a _Good Boy_, or the fact that I was watching the way his-"

"STOP! I do NOT want to hear what goes on inside that dirty little head of yours," I think I'll let that one slide. For now. "But," He continued, "I don't know if you noticed or not the way he got, rather close, as he talked to you."

"He was pointing over my shoulder, can't exactly do that one from across the room now can you Little Boy Genius?"

"New name?"

"Maybe, I've been thinking about it."

"Right, but he didn't have to get so physical with you."

"Jealous much?"

"No, I'm watching out for what's Skylar's."

I almost had a heart attack. "WHAT THE H-"

His hand shot out and covered my mouth to stop me from shouting to the classroom what we had just been talking about.

"Uh- Sorry, nothing to see here, turn around, go back to your work. Now, now, hurry, hurry."

The teacher frowned and made his way over as I ripped Viper's hand off my mouth. "What the hell did you just say?" I hissed dangerously low.

"Well, Skylar's been talking and he's decided that he likes you. And what Skylar likes, he tends to call his, and what he calls his, he protects with the utmost care."

"And I've been placed into that group?" My temper was a little bad, I will admit, but what was I suppose to do? Just decide that hey, as long as 'Skylar' gets what he wants, then all is well? Hell No. That's not even in my dictionary.

"At the top of the list actual-"

"Is there a problem here?" Oh, it was the sexy artist. OHH, I just LOVED his voice. And now that I thought about it, the boys had a bit of an accent too, I had just been around the Lou brother's, I never noticed. They had a touch of English in them.

Now that I thought about it, English accents were also pretty hot.

Wait, what did he say?

I cocked my head to the side. "I'm sorry, what?"

He looked taken aback, bit only slightly. "I- I said is there a problem here?"

He licked his lips and my eyes were immediately drawn to watch him. "Nope," I said, popping the P. "There is absolutely no problem here, right Viper?" He nodded, glaring at the side of my head as I let a little grin cover my mouth.

"Was there anything else you wanted, Mr. Bryson?" Was it just me, or did it sound like there was a double meaning to those words?

"Please, just Ralf."

I smiled. "Okay... Ralf."

He nodded and walked away, looking over his shoulder once as he went to check on another student.

"Now that, is what you would call a talent." I grinned. Screw art.

"No, that is what you would call a whore. What the hell was that!"

My grin turned smug as I leaned back against the cabinet, my eyes still following the teacher. "That," I rolled my head to the side to look up at Viper, "was me showing Skylar, I wasn't his."

______________________________

Mr. Bryson had called the class to look up at the white board as he drew a few of the examples of the mistakes he had seen while walking around, most of them mine. His voice.... so dreamy.

I almost sighed like a schoolgirl.

So damn hot!

"Okay, class, I think you have just endured another class of Art, you may go." Everyone began shoving books, small easels, pens, pencils, erasers, canvases, and some other objects into their awaiting bags and filed out in groups, all laughing and playing around as they tried to beat one another to the door.

"Miss. Brooks, please see me after class. We need to speak about... your drawings."

People 'ooed' and I had the sudden urge to smile and laugh with them and call them third graders. "Sucks for you!" Someone called and I yelled right back.

"Yeah, we all know what _you_ suck." Laughter went around the last of the students as left.

Viper walked past me, shoving his chair maybe just a little harder than necessary to show me how unhappy he was.

"What can I say?" I whispered, knowing full well he could hear me. "I suck at art." He slammed the door shut as I approached the sexy man's desk.

"I apologize Mr. Br- Ralf. I know I suck at drawing, but-" He cut me off as he walked around the desk to tower above me.

"You know full well that that wasn't the reason I held you after at all."

I smirked. "Oh, was it not?"

"No." He raised his hand and softly petted my head, running his hands down my hair.

"You know," He sat on the desk, still having to look down to see my face. "You could always keep those grades up by... doing some _extra_ work."

I stepped a little closer, swinging my hips as I walked. His eyes raked across my my small frame, taking in my flat tummy through my tight black shirt and bare shoulder, to slipping down my legs and to my boot covered feet. He brought his eyes back up, slowly to take in anything he may have missed, lingering on my slightly large breasts, and finally came to a stop on my lips.

I paused in front of him and ran my hands across the expanse of his his shoulders and gave him a hard shove, pushing him flat on the top of his desk.

I flashed my teeth in a sexy smile as I crawled up onto the wood slowly, crawling over his beautifully built body and leaned down closer to take in the scent of his cologne.

I moaned as I ran my tongue up the side of his face.

And somewhere in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think that this would have been so much more fun had it been a certain someone else. Someone that had super strength, and a larger, more muscular body. Paler and didn't even need some fancy perfume to drug me, a smell that could null my senses and set my body on fire. Someone that just happened to have _fangs,_ and someone that just happened to be a _vampire_.

And for some reason, his name seemed to be _Skylar_.

But this wasn't Skylar, and he would never _be_ Skylar. No, this was Ralf. And he was tall, lean, sexy, Australian, and even better, he didn't need blood to keep his emotions under control.

And I could play with him ALL I liked.

No consequence.

Because, if he were to accidentally let something like this slip, well I wouldn't just be dubbed a hoe, but he would lose his job, and any chance of ever getting another one.

Sure, I was a bitch.

But wasn't everyone?

Ralf pulled his hand up to slid down my sides and to roll over my hips as I made my way down to his neck.

I nipped at the soft skin as he gripped my waist tightly.

He groaned and I ran a hand over his chest, amused by the way he shivered under my soft touch.

This was to easy.

Too much fun.

And my time was running out.

Sure, he had the rest of the day, he was done, but I still had another class. Anther class that I had another vampire in that would be just a little suspicious if I were to... suddenly disappear.

Not that I would.

I didn't really like Ralf.

I just needed to fell like _I_ was the one in control. That _I _was the one in charge. Even if it was, only for the moment.

I just needed to _know_.

I left little bite marks all the way up his neck and gazed down into his hooded eyes.

"Are you a vampire?" He asked playfully and I shook my head slowly, his comment bothering me more than it really should have.

"Nope." I whispered into his ear, grinding down on him. "Try again."

He groaned loudly and I felt proud, knowing that it was _me_ that was doing this to him.That it was _me_ that could make him wither in pleasure, without even having to kiss him. That it was _me_ that could cause this reaction.

_I _could do this.

It was _me_.

_ME._

"You know, a pass would be nice."

He dropped his head back on the desk, panting as if he had just had the best sex of his life. "I got to go now." My voice was covered in a fake emotion. But he bought it.

He bought it because I was one of the best liars in the world.

And I could do anything I wanted.

Even make him pass me for the rest of the year, if I had wanted.

But I felt so dirty.

And I had done barely nothing.

Just a few butterfly kisses.

It wasn't like I had given him a blow- Okay, you know, I think I got the point. I felt guilty, and I didn't know why.

Talk about a total mood killer right?

I slid off him, noticing the.. cough... rather _large_ tent that had been pitched in his pants.

Right. Paper, pen, oh... I was late by like four minutes.

He signed his name and attached a small note as I glanced into the mirror to make sure I didn't look too different.

My eyes, well there was nothing I could do about that excited and wild look in them. And my cheeks seemed flushed just a little, but that would be brought on by the cold. Right?

But the teacher, oh he was so much worse.

He had little red love bites all over the skin of his neck and his hair was a mess. His shirt was wrinkled and his pants look.... just a little tight. I wonder if that was uncomfortable.

Didn't matter, all he would have to do would be to take a step outside. Hell, he wouldn't even need a cold shower.

Hope he didn't have a possessive girlfriend.

But... speaking of possessive... I wonder how my little vampire bodyguard was holding up.

Hm, I wonder.

"Here." Ralf shoved the paper out to me, his hand still shaking so bad, it was a wonder he could write an readable sentence.

"Thanks." I took the paper and pulled myself closer, taking a small bite at his ear lobe and watched the way he trembled.

And I turned.

And I left.

Without another word.

My lips, un-kissed.

My body, still pure.... Or close enough to pure.

But now, I just had one more class for the day. And that was it. That was all I had to do for the day.

Until I had to go to work.

But I liked what I did.

I liked how I did it.

And it would probably give the guys a heart attack to see the way the men came onto me. Like a piece of metal, attracted to a magnet.

And I was the magnet in that bar.

And the manager knew it.

Snow clung to my hair, the cold air cooled my heated body and calmed my nerves.

I stopped in front of the Drama building, and looked down at the jacket Skylar had given me that I had held in my hands the whole way here. Because I had forgotten to put it on.

I sighed and yanked open the heavy doors to pass through and flash my excuses slip to the uncaring teacher, that probably would have counted me here just because he was to lazy to call the main men because I was always late.

He had a life to live.

And I had to give it to him, he wasn't too bad for thirty-nine.

But his acting could use a little work.

And mildly, I wondered why I had signed up for Drama... in college.

Yep, just another easy course to go through.

Just something to pass the time actually.

I crossed the room, ignoring the enormous stage in the middle of the room, and took a seat on the floor, away from all of the other students. Wondering why it was this class that Kali didn't have.

And she was a pretty good actress too.

Something tall and heavy dropped beside me and leaned back against the wall, and something, actually someone else, same heaviness but different height fell beside me on the other side.

"So, What happened?" I looked over to see Skylar talk just as Emmet pushed me towards him, just enough, until I was trapped between them both.

My head turned to Emmet as I tried to get up.

"Uh uh, you're not going anywhere. We're not done talking."

"We never started."

Skylar frowned and his lips twitched downward. "What the hell is that- That smell... is coming from you." He reached out and pulled me into his chest as he sniffed all over my back, following along the paths that Ralf's hand had taken.

And if I hadn't have stopped him, he probably would have brought his nose down further than _anyone_ would have thought appropriate.

"Hey!" I yelped, my voice going unnoticed by the other chatting students in the room.

"What's wrong?" Emmet grinned nastily. "He getting a little too friendly?"

"No, but someone has." Skylar's voice was harsh, like he was pissed beyond compare. "I know this scent."

Emmet's lips curled up as he too took a whiff of the air. "That's the art professor. Why would he be feeling up on you?"

"Will you two stop, and let me go!" I squirmed against Skylar's arms only to fall into Emmet's.

"Get off! And scoot away. Go. Shoo. Now." I jumped up to be pulled back down.

"No," Skylar's hands clasped around my arm, just above the elbow, and I wanted to cry. Where had all my control, all my power, where had it all gone? I didn't like the feel of being over powered, but that was exactly what was happening. And I hated it. I hated it with a passion.

"Why? You didn't seem to mind when it was the _Professor_." His tone was cold, his body posture, possessive, just like I had thought. He was such a Bastard!

I HATED him.

So very much.

And that was why a felt a burst of joy when the Drama Teacher began class, successfully pulling me from the prison that I had foolishly placed myself into.

But I could worry about that later.

___________________________

The moment he dismissed us, I was in a full out sprint towards the parking lot, not quite thinking about the fact that.. well, I had no ride.

Great.

I was going to be killed. If not by my manager, then by the person I asked to give me a ride.

Unless... "KALI!"

I looked for a certain blonde head to turn, and none did for a second, until I saw a little body jumping into the air.

Yep, that was definitely her.

I raced towards the my little mirrored image, dodging all the 'big people' as I tackled Kali. "I need a ride." I whispered into her ear and she turned to me with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Something wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing, but I have to go, now!"

"Now?"

"Now."

"But... my car- it's at the house."

No, no, no, no, NO! I was so SCREWED!

I shook off my shoe and socks and took off running. "Where are you going?" Kali called after me.

"I've got to go, I'm am going to be so late! I'm going to get fired, don't wait up, BYE!"

And I was gone, in flat out sprint towards Passion.

___________________________

"Riot!" My manager squawked in shock as I threw open the doors and ran past her with only a few moments to spare.

"I'm sorry I'm late, my car broke down. I'll be out in a few minutes, just put Heather in for me." I entered the employees back room and stripped.

I had always known that that extra shower would have some purpose for me.

I jumped in the stream of freezing water and scrubbed viciously, urging myself faster still.

In and out.

In four minutes.

I snatched the blow dryer off the counter top, not minding that it belonged to the manager, and blew my hair dry.

I hurried to the large locker that belonged to me and Heather and grabbed some newly washed low ride jeans, and a no sleeve, belly showing, skin tight purple top. I threw back on my socks and my boots and hurried out of the room, slamming the locker shut behind me.

"Riot," Heather smiled gratefully, she knew how to be a waitress, not a bartender. "Will you _please_ come and take your job back? Please!" And she took off running in the other direction, giving me no choice but to go and take my post.

I jumped in, smiling as people began to clap, and then call in their orders.

"Okay people, you know the drill, line it up and find a seat, if you can't find one, find a table, you know how we have people bring stuff out. And better yet, go dance. You didn't pay cash to just sit around did you?" A chorus of 'No's went around the group and everyone began to disperse to find a seat, knowing full well that I wouldn't serve them a thing if they didn't.

"A Blackjack Margarita would you please?" I nodded and started mixing and pouring. My night was just beginning. And already it was in the fast lane.

By the time things had started to slow down at the bar, there were so many people dancing on the floor, I could actually sit down and relax. Aside from the few thirsty people, it was boring.

Key Word: Was.

"Bloody Mary, mix it with some O- Real Blood" I froze.

I so knew that voice.

"Hello?"

"Uh, yeah, I got it." I hurried to fix the drink and tossed in a shot of Real Blood. I handed it over and spun away, walking off stiffly. Hoping he wouldn't notice....

"Where are you going Riot? You can't leave your post now can you?" Skylar, was _such_ a bastard.

I turned back with a disgruntled look on my face. "Uh, right. How did you-"

"Your scent, I could smell it the moment I walked through those doors."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you saying I smell?"

"Like a drug."

I swallowed hard, and turned towards Heather as she approached slowly, like she was being watchful of the young man sitting alone at the bar.

She looked at me and got real close and whispered in my ear, "Who is _he_? He's like Oh. My. God. Sexy!" She was so giddy and happy, speaking like a child on Christmas.

"He's just... someone."

"Yeah, someone that could be the hottest thing on this EARTH!"

I laughed. "Now that was a little over dramatic don't you think?"

She giggled and gave me a slip of paper.

-Gin

-Two glasses of Red Wine

-Fruit Cocktail

-Whiskey

"Red Wine? Fancy Much?"

She shrugged and watched me set to work pouring, shaking, mixing, and adding.

"You know, you are like, a pro at that." She laughed, dancing a bit as she walked around the bar to wait for the drinks.

I grinned. And poured myself a shot of Tequila as I handed over a tray of drinks.

I lifted the glass up in a go ahead juster, not counting on the fact that she was going to shoot back my drink herself.

"You Hooker!" I yelled after he, starring down sadly at the small empty glass. She only laughed as she served the tables.

I poured myself another shot and and tipped my head back.

Skylar made a growling noise and I slammed down the glass, looking up at him with a small smile playing at my lips. "What?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you have the sexiest neck?"

I laughed and got some more alcohol. "Nope."

"Well, you have the sexiest neck I have ever seen."

"And let me guess, you've seen a lot?"

He nodded, "Quiet a few."

"I bet."

I threw my head back, emptying the glass yet again.

"You know," I smiled. "You have the hottest _fangs_ I have ever seen."

His lips upturned in a smirk. "Another drink, please, the same, make it good and I might even throw in a tip."

"I _always_ make it good."

"Hm, is that a promise?"

"No, it's a fact."

"Then let's put it to the test?"

"What ever you say."

______________________

"Bye, Bye, my little friend!" I called over my shoulder to Heather as the manager half dragged her to the rooms upstairs.

"I swear, If I catch you two drinking again on the job, I'm going to hurt you both."

"But you know- you know- you know that y-you _love_ us!" I stumbled over my words and my feet.

"I think I won the contest," Skylar grinned, as sober as he had ever been.

"You cheated asshole!"

"Did not." He scooped me up into his arms as he made his way into the cold, snow covered world outside.

"I can't believe you ran here, or that you worked here, Hell, I didn't even know you had a _job_."

"Yep, yep," I nodded viciously. "I've had a job for a very," I spread my arms out wide, "long time."

"That's cool."

I nodded again and snuggled closer to the warmth that still clung to Skylar's skin. I got this crazy and wild idea, and decided, hey, why not?

I pressed my face into the crook of his neck and resisted the urge to grin and laugh. I brought my tongue out and licked up his throat, nipped at skin there.

He shot from the front of the door to the backseat of an extremely nice car.

He shoved me down hard on the seat and hissed. His eyes were violently bright, almost glowing, and I could have swore, the icy blue in eyes turned a snowy white for just a moment.

He bared his fangs and hissed again.

And the funny thing was, I felt no fear. In fact, a part of me, wanted to urge him on more. To see what all he could do.

I pulled myself up and gave him another bite on the throat.

He jerked away. "Bitch," He snarled.

And I sat up.

"No." He growled, his eyes still cold, his voice still harsh.

And I ignored him. Egging him on with my words. "And what are you going to do about it?"

He shoved me back down and straddled my waist.

My mind, blurry with the alcohol, wanted more. But wanted to be in control, not the one being controlled.

He took a sniff from up above me and flashed his teeth again. "My Bitch."

"Am not," I protested, moving underneath him, trying to get away. Or to get on top. Either would be nice.

"Mine."

"Not."

He snarled again, and grabbed my wrists, slamming them down on the leather seat roughly. "Mine." He nuzzled into the side of my neck, rubbing his face all over my skin, licking and nipping just as I had to Ralf.

The thought alone almost sobered me up.

But I was too far gone in the pleasure. I was drowning in it, and still did not want to resurface.

He was getting high off of the feeling of power, off of the feeling of being in control.

He was every bit like me, and I hated that. I hated it, because he was _still_ better.

Damn him.

I really, really hated Skylar.

I rolled my head to the side, giving him a better access, and he practically _purred_ in satisfaction. Like that was what he had been trying to get me to do from step one.

He moved down, further away from my neck, and bit down lightly on my shoulder. I could feel the fangs against my skin, sliding, poking, and sucking, like a slight tugging. And then it was gone.

He moved every time. Just a little closer to my throat.

I was almost withering underneath him. Mewling like a kitten, wanting more, so impatient. Wanting to forget the foreplay, just wanted to indulge.

But then, that would have ruined all the fun.

But then, there was that explosion of pleasure. A shooting pleasure, like a drug addict, needed the needle, begging for the needle, and finally getting to stab and eject. Filling his veins with the stuff he wanted. And even though it was slowly eating him from the inside out, and even though it was slowly killing him, shot by shot, second by second, breath by breath, he continued. Not once stopping to think about tomorrow, or even the next minute.

Only living in the present, never the future.

Always wanting.

Never thinking.

And that was what killed the foolish man.

And that was what was going to kill me.

And yet, I could care less.

Because, I was living in the moment.

Feeling only what I wanted to feel.

All the fake happiness and pleasure.

And I took it all with a smile, playing at the corner of my lips.

Without a care in the world.

Even though, my own world, was crumbling all around me.

A smile and a sigh.

And that was all it took.

**Hm, I can't decide if my chapters are getting more depressing or what.**

**Okay, someone had brought it to my attention that I am focusing too much on Riot.**

**I need to focus on Kali some, and like they said, give Kali some LOVING.**

**LOL.**

**And because I realized, that hey, that is so freaking true, and I have decided to put a poll up on my account, and I want people to tell me who they think Kali would be good with.**

**Let me hear your opinions.**

**Voice them loud and proud baby!**

**:]]**

**You know... believe it or not, I always wanted to say that...**

**Hehe.**

**But guess what, my Nana got a new puppy, a golden retriever in fact.**

**And I absolutely ADORE it.**

**I always told my mom I was going to have three dogs, a West Highland Terrier, A German Sheppard, and a Golden retriever. Probably all male because, hey, they make better guard dogs.**

**But my point was, does anyone think I should give the twins a Christmas present?**

**(An Animal)**

**And if so, what animal. I love cats and dogs both, and I can give them both, but let me hear what you think, after all, the story would suck if there weren't new things ever once and a while right?**

**Special thanks to:**

**13x**

**1107**

** (FPK)**

**Let me hear ya,**

**-Ashley.**


	5. Listen

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

Maybe it didn't occur to me, that I had the blood type that Skylar tended to favor, or maybe, just maybe, I _'accidentally'_ forgot.

Yeah.

Maybe.

But that didn't matter, what mattered was that I was being bit and drank from by a bloody VAMPIRE and I wasn't doing a thing to stop it.

That was just a tad bit weird if I do say so myself.

I pushed against his chest, moving my head to cover my neck. "No." I tried to make my voice firm and unmovable, but it came out in a shudder and my tone wavered.

"Mine."

"Is that all you can say?"

And he made a move to reach back down and continue what he had started but I, for some reason, decided to raise my leg and ram it as hard I could in my weakened state into his little soldier. And I was proud to say that it had the desired effect.

He doubled over all right, and _then_ I decided to make sure he was fine before I took off running.... or wobbling, whatever, didn't matter.

He was now lying on the floor of the backseat and I peeked over the edge, just to make sure he was still in his fetal position before I hesitantly reached out a hand and tapped him on the back.

Yanking my hand back and slammed my eyes shut and hunkered down, not quite sure if he was just going to pop up in a full blown rage or if he was going to get all violent.

He did neither.

Stupidly, I decided to touch him again, this time just to make sure he was alive before I opened up the car door to the freezing air outside.

And stupidly, I never thought to think about him reaching up and taking hold of my wrist and pulling me down on top of him.

I didn't even see him move.

And I didn't even scream.

No, I just blinked and tilted my head to the side.

Skylar's eyes were normal, like they had been before we had left the club. His lips were mashed in a strait line, his face so composed, it was almost void _all_ emotion.

"What did you do?" He asked softly, like his voice was going to shatter the tense air the surrounded us.

"I didn't do a thing!" I exclaimed, moving my hands and shaking my head together to get my point across.

"What did you do?" He asked again, his voice no different from the one he had used just seconds before. In fact, his words themselves didn't even change.

"I just told you silly." I giggled and shook me head again.

"You didn't tell me anything." His eyes watched me carefully as I touched my hand to his forehead.

I frowned and sat up, his arms still not releasing me. I pushed against his chest, but I doubt he even felt it. "You're scary."

His lips parted as if he was going to say something before they closed slowly. His eyes flashed with something I had never seen in him before until they dropped to the side. Like he was avoiding looking at me strait when he let me go.

"I'm sorry." He sighed, his voice softer than ever and I felt more confused than ever. Why was he apologizing?

"I wanna go home." And that was all I said as I crawled up into the front passenger seat and sat there expectantly, my legs crossed and my hands clasped together in my lap.

When I didn't hear him move I turned around and looked at him, inspecting the way he ran his hand through his messy hair and down his face, first covering his eyes, then his mouth. Like he was nervous, or surprised... or maybe tired. I couldn't tell, but whatever it was, it was stopping him from moving up to the front just as I had.

My hand shyly reached back and tugged on his slightly baggy shirt. "Hey Sky, can you take me home?"

He frowned at the name I had called him and stared into my eyes that were mixed with emotions. I felt different, but maybe that was because I went from daring, to excited, to shy, to calm. Or maybe, it was because I wasn't sober.

But I felt sober enough, aside from the slight buzzing of excitement.

He nodded slowly and opened the backseat door, drenching himself with the cold air as he slammed shut the car door and stepped up to the driver's side.

He sat there, his hands on the steering wheel, not moving, not breathing, thinking maybe? And then, he reached over me and grabbed hold of my seatbelt and pulled it down over my chest and clicked it in the lock, treating me like you would treat a little kid before he revived the engine and pulled out of the club's lot.

"What about you?" I asked quietly, and I realized I could barely hear myself over the hot air he had just set on high.

"What about me?"

"Aren't you going to buckle your belt too?"

He didn't even look at me. "I don't need it."

I frowned and sat silently, staring out the window and nibbling on my bottom lip.

I missed the way he closed his eyes as if he were in pain, or at least I had until he slammed his hand down on the dash board and pulled over on the side of the road.

Flicking on his panic lights he turned to me.

He ripped off his jacket that I had, at some point, given back to him and threw it at me, covering my head as well as the rest of my body due to the size of the large leather coat.

I pulled it down off of my head and just below my eyes with small hands and looked at him in question.

"Put it on, and cover your damn neck." His jaw tightened. "You _are_ going to tell me what you did and you _are_ going to tell me what _I_ did. And stop biting your lip, I swear to god if you make it bleed." I kept waiting for him to finish that threat but he never did, so I never asked. Because honesty, I wasn't quite sure I really wanted to know.

His nose twitched and he looked to the side, and then back at me. "Are you okay?"

"Okay?"

"Are you dizzy? Nauseous?"

I frowned and looked down, concentrating really hard. I looked back up and shrugged.

The muscles on his arm became more defined as he tried to hold himself back as the smell of my blood filled the car.

He inhaled deeply and forcefully exhaled, keeping his moves careful and calculated. He watched himself.

"Tell me."

But I didn't want to.

So instead I shook my head and pushed myself out his reach and he swallowed hard. "Riot, tell me."

"But you'll be mad."

"Does not matter."

"But you _will_!" I whined.

"Riot." He barked. "Tell me now oh God so help me, I-"

I jumped as his voice raised in volume and my vision became blurred with tears. "Riot?"

A drop of water slid down my cheek and then, I couldn't stop the rest that followed. "See," I wailed. "See, I told you that you would be mad!"

"No, I wasn't mad at you-"

"YES YOU WERE!" And the tears came faster. He looked around wildly as if he had no clue as to what was happening.

"Riot, please, just- just stop crying."

I cried louder.

"Riot, this isn't like you, what's wrong- okay, what did I do? Was it because I yelled?"

"NO! Leave me alone!" I screamed at him.

He looked so full of panic, his eyes darting all through out the car, as if he was looking for something.

"Riot, Riot, if I tell you I'm sorry, will you stop crying?"

My lip trembled and I shrugged, the salty tears, still dripping.

He opened his arms as if he wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. I turned away towards the window and curled up, covering my body with the jacket.

He sighed and reached over and released the seatbelt that had begun to dig into my side and picked me up as if I weighed as much as a book.

He pulled off the coat and held me in his arms and rocked my like a baby. He even tucked the jacket around me and he made soft hushing noises. My cries slowed and even quieted and he flipped off the panic lights and turned on his left blinker.

Pulling out into the traffic he shook his head and muttered under his breath, his words barely loud enough to be heard. "Remind me to _never_ let you have another _sip_ of anything alcoholic ever again."

I yawned, my tongue curling like a kittens, and I burrowed myself deeper within the warmth of Skylar's jacket and pressed my overheated face into his chilled chest.

He left one hand on the wheel and brought the other to wrap around my shoulders as he pulled me closer, in a more possessive hold. And I made no complaints. I was too far gone in the welcoming darkness that had been lurking at the corners of my mind since I had taken that first shot.

And I finally released my hold on the waking world, and fell into the bliss of nothing.

________________________________

**.::Kali's P.O.V::.**

That idiot, I wanted to scream. She was such a total and complete idiot. And she was my twin sister.

Yeah, some twin.

"What did you do to her?" I growled through clenched teeth. What did this fool take me for?

Skylar threw up a hand in annoyance, "I already told you, she drank herself drunk, cried a damn river in my car, and passed out. Nothing more, nothing less. Would you like to interrogate me for anything else?" His sarcasm was infuriating, how Riot could keep from punching his face in was beyond me. I would have ripped my hair out by now.

Viper rolled his eyes from his relaxed spot lounging on the couch, his side sinking into the fluffy cushions of the couch as he flipped through channels on the television so fast, it was hard to believe he was actually seeing anything at all. "Kali, he's told you everything he knows, do you think you could keep the screaming level down a bit, I'd hate to have my ears bleed."

Bastard.

Riot gave me way too much credit, I had almost as much as a temper as her, I just had a better way of going about it. But right now, I think I could stand to use Riot's method.

I snatched one of the ignored remotes on the side table, the one that belonged to the fan, and chunked it at Viper's head, turning my aggravated eyes to the fan blades that had begun to spin.

"Why the hell was she drinking?"

"It's a bar, plenty of free alcohol, well, free to her, and who wouldn't have a few shots?"

"A few?" I looked around for something else to throw since Viper was making it quite obvious that he wasn't going to give the remote back.

"You know," Leo commented from the kitchen as the refrigerator door softly closed. "I didn't take you as the type to curse."

"Yeah, well I guess I'm full of surprises then huh?" I wanted to smack myself. I was being a bitch, for no reason at all too.

He was just trying to help and here I was, going all Royal Bitchiness on his butt when he was trying to help.... I think.

Emmet snorted, "That was lame."

"And you're not?" I replied without missing a beat as I spun on my heel, deciding that I needed something to do with my hands while Skylar took a seat, placing Riot's head on his lap.

I figured I would tell her later and sit back with a bowl of popcorn.... Or maybe ice cream. Or better yet, candy. You know the small little sour people? Yep, those were the bomb like tickety-tock.

Actually, I stopped and turned, watching as Skylar smoothed her hair with his palm as she snuggled deeper into him, pressing her face to his stomach. I could take a picture.... Proof!

As quick as lightning I whipped out my phone, snapped three shots, and took off like bullet, hoping I could close enough to a knife before he came after me.

"KALI!" He hollered, his loud voice echoing through the expanse of the apartment.

"Shh," I called back from in the laundry room. "We don't wanna wake her now do we?" Though we might be just a tad bit late already.

I didn't bother to listen for yelling or cursing, whatever Riot would do when she awoke to 1) being in Skylar's lap 2)Clinging to him like a puppy and 3) being met by a Tequila induced hangover.

I saddled up to the washing machine that, only God knows how, Riot convinced the batty Landlord to let us install. Riot could work wonders when she wanted to, and spun the knob to the left.

I hummed pleasantly to myself as I let the sound of running water drown out all the other noises, dancing quietly as I grabbed soup and poured, working more out of habit than anything as I tossed in a load of whites.

Moving from the washer to the dryer I remembered I forgot to start the previously washed up.

Cranking the dial, I pressed start and turned, still not paying attention the figure in the corner.

And it wasn't until a box of oatmeal dropped from the shelf did I see.

Screaming I backed up into the wall, the creature pounced, and everything went dark.

_______________________

"Kali!" I heard someone shout as my hand darted wildly against the wall.

"Damn light," I cursed. Of all the times for me to flip the switch, it had to be now. After I scared the crap out of myself, thinking that I was under attack or something like that.

Which I wasn't I might add, I had just accidentally hit the switch when I backed into the wall.

"Kali," Someone yelled as I flipped on the light at last.

"Ha Ha." I grinned victoriously. "Found you."

"Kali, what happened?" Emmet asked, voice pumped and ready to beat the crap out of something.

"Nothing."

"Then why did you scream?" Viper asked, an eye brow raised as he relaxed against the pantry wall.

"Because, I got scarred."

"Why?"

"Oh, LOOK!" I cried, showing them the little being that had flung itself at me. "It's a kitty!" I felt my heart swell, I could keep it, and I could name it, and I could take care of it, and I would be just like a MOTHER!

I almost cried from the joy of the thought. I had always wanted a child, one that I could raise and make happy. One that I could just love until the end of time.... and hopefully, when that child got older, I wouldn't be made into the hated Mother.... But until then, and until I got even the slightest chance to become a real Mother, I would just have to love on this adorable kitten. The kitten the wasn't even bigger than my palm, the kitten that had thick black fur and bright, soul seeing, green eyes, and I could barely even believe, that something this small, could have launched itself at me from atop on of the shelves.

The thought in itself made me giggle uncontrollably.

"That thing, looks like a filthy, half drowned rat." Oh hell no bitch. He did NOT just call my little baby a _Rat_.

That sucker better run for his life.

And he did too, with me hot on his tail.

And he still had the decency to laugh like it had been some joke all along.

Stupid bastard.

And me, well, I was starting to sound a LOT like Riot.

__________________________

I groaned. I was never, never in my life, going to give a kitten a bath, ever again.

That little four inch thing, yeah that thing, it was a _Beast_.

A little monster in disguise.

God, I think the I have no skin left on my arms....

Look at the way it's glaring at me.... I think it hates me... But it was covered in dirt and dust and if I was going to convince my little bitchy Landlord to let me keep him.... She would have just called him a rat too!

So I turned away, not really willing to start the staring contest I knew I would lose. So instead, I decide to find something fun to do... Like cook.

"Hey.. You, the little (big) bloodsucking creatures, do you eat?"

Viper and Leo grinned, sharing a look. Emmet was the one that had the comeback all nice and ready for me. He even tied a little bow on top. "Aw, is Kali inviting us to stay for dinner? Are you going to let us stay the night here too? I could share a bed with you while the two idiots down here got the couches and Skylar and Riot got her bed. What do ya think?"

I stared. And the cat yowled as if in anger. As if he couldn't believe Emmet had just suggested anything of the sort.

Emmet turned back to the cat, surprise etched into the expression of his face as I looked the bristling, pissed off cat that had not felt a need to hesitate in telling Emmet what he thought of his out of this world idea.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Like he said."

Skylar laughed from his side of the room, Riot tucked safely in his arms.

"So," Leo drawled. "Does your offer for dinner still stand?"

.................................................................................................................

I padded across the kitchen, grabbing bowels and ingredients, things to drink, all while flipping through the channels of the radio. Yeah, I have some pretty mad multitasking skills. But hey, what can I say, I make people jealous.

And I laughed, even though I had made the joke myself and even though it wasn't really that funny. But still, I thought it was worth the breath.

Even if it _was _in my head.

Almost done. Yep, I was currently taking culinary classes. Why? Because I was good like that.... not. Riot always said I was a good cook, and I thought it was fun, so why not?

And so, I had decided to serve the food that Riot had made before we had even headed off to school.... Or maybe, now that I was looking at it, maybe we should have taken it off the stove sooner....

Looked a little burnt now... even though it was _suppose_ to cook all day, it _still_ fried itself to a little crisp. That box, was _such_ a liar.

"Okay, change of plans." I sighed to myself. Well, I guess breakfast wasn't too bad. Now that it was three in the morning. So much for dinner.

I headed towards the fridge and grabbed a 18 count carton full of eggs and set them out beside the pan that was slowly heating up on the stove.

Going back for bacon and cheese and butter and whatever else I could think of, as I listened to the quiet conversation going on in the living room, though I believed it was the television instead of one of the guys.

And... I don't know a Gracie.... or a Lucy.... Or a Mr. Hampy.... Yep, I was pretty sure the _voices_ in my head, where coming from the screen colorful pictures.

I didn't put much thought into the cooking on the stove, I just let my hands do what they wanted to do. Like always.

I heard my name being called from the next room but I ignored them. Thinking that it was just the tv just talking about someone that happened to have the same name as me.

And I ignored the voice until it was right behind me, breathing cold air in my ear. "Earth to Kali, are you ever going to acknowledge my presence?"

I jumping and whirled around, paying no mind to the sizzling eggs that were almost done.

"Hey," Viper whispered as he stepped closer to me, my face pressing into his chest as he reached around me and moved the eggs to the back burner. "Watch out." I would have liked to believe that the reason that I wasn't moving away was because I was still in shock, but I would be lying. I actually _liked_ the feel of his soft shirt against my ear. Soft and smooth, like his heart would have been, had it still been beating.

So I didn't move, _pretending _I was too caught up in the suddenness of his actions, enjoying every soft breath he took. While trying to to show it one my face.

He had long ago taken on the responsibility of finishing my job in cooking, cooking the meal I wasn't even hungry for.

That was when I noticed how tired I was.

I pulled reluctantly away from the thing I had been fighting my very thoughts to stay close to. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to.

There was just no way around it, not that I would have minded sleeping right here right now. Who cares that I was standing, at least I would be leaning against something. OR someone. However you wanted to look at it was fine.

I ducked under Viper's arm, already feeling the weird tingling sensation on my skin. On the places that he touched and on the places that he even _looked_.

"I have to go to sleep." I grimaced. You guys can eat but I don't feel hungry." And as I turned to leave to kitchen, I turned back and smiled. "I want every one of you gone in the morning."

And I left him alone to stare at the spot I had just been at.

Briskly, I stalked past the idiots who were lounging on my couches, watching a woman touching herself. "I better not have to pay for that."

Emmet rolled his head up towards the ceiling and slid his eyes up to meet mine. "Night Kali. Take the furry beast with you too. Wouldn't want it to kill us while you're sleeping right?"

I sighed and turned back around to go get my little baby. "I guess you're right, I don't have any places to stash the body yet... Such a damn shame."

"Ha. Ha. Funny." He replied sarcastically and Leo laughed.

The little black kitten in my hands mewled softly. My face lit up into a bright smile. "You are the cutest little thing I have ever seen in my LIFE!" I laughed, touching noses with the small beauty.

"Night." I called, not waiting for a response, I shut my door, hoping they would be gone when I awoke.

I set the kitten on my bed and stripped, taking off the annoying restriction called clothes and left myself in my bare essentials. I was so tired.

So, so tired, I didn't even have the strength to go to my closet and grab a large shirt. Any thing.

So instead, I dropped to the bed, the nice plush bed. Oh so soft, and comfortable. It was like a heaven.

Yeah, Heaven was it?

Was that what they called it these days?

And... God. The God that no one had ever seen, The God that no one seemed to believe in any more.

But he was there.

Right?

He was the one I gave all my faith to and he was the one that was going to save me right?

Later.

Because he couldn't save me back then, it made me wonder.

Was I not worth saving?

Was I not worth the effort and time and worry?

Was I just another rock in the way?

Was I?

I felt like it.

I always felt like it.

Like I was invisible.

My face touched the pillow as I slid my way into the sheets.

The cold thick sheets.

They didn't feel so welcoming anymore.

I felt wide awake.

And sad.

So very sad.

I felt as if though I was alone.

I was alone, because I had lost Riot.

I lost her, to Skylar.

He stole her, and now he wouldn't give her back.

He barely knew her!

She was my twin!

My sister!

And he took her.

Took her away, so far away, I can't reach her anymore.

I can't even see her anymore.

I want to grab, I want to stretch. But I can't.

I can't make it.

I can't touch the warm, soft skin that belonged to her.

Only her.

Because I wasn't that warm, I was freezing.

So, so cold.

And alone.

It was dark.

I didn't like this.

I couldn't find Riot, she was gone.

So, so gone.

And I was left.

In the dark.

Feeling of so lonely.

So, so lonely....

Maybe it was the shock of falling asleep that caused me to lurch from my bed.

Or maybe, it was the two calm eyes that seemed to shine in front of me.

Yeah.

It was a wonder I didn't scream.

But still, waking up from a dream I hadn't even realized I had fallen into in the arms of a pale skinned, blood-sucker.

Yep.

The shock was huge.

I gasped and shoved away, succeeding in only hurting my hand while he looked at me, staring with those worried eyes that shouldn't be looking at me.

Those worried eyes that shouldn't even waste their time.

Those worried, beautiful, eyes that belonged to Viper. And only Viper.

I slowed my flailing to a stop and looked around warily. It was morning. I was late.

_I_ was late.

Late....

Late..

"I'M LATE!" I shot from the bed and fell to the floor, still being watched.

"It's five."

Five.

"In the morning."

Oh.

So maybe I'm not late.

But now.... I felt really, really tired.

Again.

I didn't want to go.

I didn't want to get up at five and leave at six-thirty, trying to making it to the campus by seven, though I was usually late.

I didn't want to go to that hell they wanted to believe was helpful, when it was nothing close to helpful. It was merely a pain, like a cramp. The levels of pain were different for every person, and everyone could hear you complain, but no body could _feel_ it like you could.

Nobody.

And when you thought about it.

Nobody could feel happiness like you could.

You were alone.

All alone in your mind and body and soul.

All alone in a crowd full of people.

Because you, you were just alone.

No matter what you did and no matter what you said.

You were _Alone._

So I slumped my way back to my bed and fell roughly. And curled into a little ball.

I felt so helpless and weak.

Like I was sick, or had a fever.

"I don't feel good." I moaned.

Viper gave something close to a laugh and I wanted to throttle him.... Later.

"That's what Riot said. Funny how things work out between you two"

"Yeah, funny."

And I don't know how I did it, but I somehow found myself lying on the cold hard chest of the man I didn't know. Oh the man I met not even 24-hours before. And I felt, for the first time, like I was at home. Like I was actually wanted.

And I wanted to hold onto this feeling forever.

I didn't want to let it go, ever.

So instead, I allowed myself to lie there, listening to the hollow sound of breathing, and waited for the heart beat that I would never hear.

**You know, I have to have some type of sadness floating around through there.**

**I know, eventually it will get annoying, but I just can't help it.**

**It's what makes me, me.**

**;]]**

**Corny line alert, LOL.**

**Fantasywolfprincesskira**

**xrayne13x**

**wingedvamp1107**

**c.a.s1404**

**arya-v**

**miz**

**Quiet and Invisible**

**Thanks a lot for the review, I really like them.**

**Some of them are like really funny.**

**Here you funny people, I give you a cookie.**

**:]]**

**-Ashley**


	6. Will It All Away

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall._

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

**January**

**February**

**March**

**April**

**May**

**June**

**July**

**August**

**September**

**October**

**November**

**December**

A whole year slipped by.... and it felt like it had only been a day.

Riot and I, we found out a small secret. A secret we haven't told a soul about. Not even the four guys.

We... had abilities.

We were twins, so we tended to think alike.... but now. Now we could hear the others thoughts.

Without saying a word.

Emotions were laid out like unfolded paper.

Thoughts were heard like small whispers.

And it never stopped.

From work, I knew what she was dreaming, and if she was even sleeping. And that was dangerous.

Questions Riot would ask herself, I would sometimes answer. Sometimes aloud, and sometimes not. But she always heard. Like they were her own thoughts.

But they weren't, and we both knew that.

But we wouldn't let it scare us... Not even a little.

___________________________

It was snowing again.

In fact, it was the same exact day, one year ago, that we had met the guys, and this day, was also the anniversary. The anniversary of the day our parents, our own flesh and blood, abandoned us. Without a second thought.

I didn't know which was worse.

And Riot....

And I...

And we, were like possessions. Possessions in the eyes of our possesses.

Four Vampires.

And it was... absolutely, totally, and completely, annoying.

Without a doubt.

Just made you wanna _strangle_ the little devils.

_'Kali.' _Riot voice that sounded so much like my own slipped into my line of thoughts. _'Feel free to tone down your rants. Really, wont be a problem at ALL.'_

I almost laughed. Last class of the day, photography.

Oh so fun.... When I wasn't the one being photographed. Emmet snapped picture after annoying picture of me, getting close and far, talking to me like he was a professional. "Okay, right there. Perfect. Hun, I think you just made the sun look dull. Oh, right there. There you go. Work it girlie."

I flipped in the bird, half on my part and half on Riot's part. Yeah... let us just say it was ALL Riot's fault shall we?

"Get that camera out of me face." I growled, ducking from a powerful flash. The blinding light.

"Okay, Guys. Girls. This is George. Georgie, give them a little wave." He walked away from the high pitched voice of the female teacher that seemed to echo through the tight room.

He looked so lonely...

I hadn't even realized I was walking towards him until I was there, my hand out and my name already said. Yeah, you know, I think that might have been Riot too.... Maybe.

George looked up and smiled, strait white teeth flashing. He was gorgeous. "Oh hello, I'm George." He dropped his hand into mine and I realized instantly he was gay. "It's nice to meet you." He gasped. "That is the hottest top I have ever seen, girl, were did you get that!"

I couldn't help but laugh. This guy was great.

Yep... I'd like to think that we had just added a new buddy to our small little circle of friendship.

_'Invite him over. We're watching a movie tonight. Comedy I think. Maybe he'll like? We're also ordering Chinese take-out. Ask him.'_

Being just as desperate as I was, she jumped strait into the thought of someone else that was actually a human.

He said yes.

_____________________

Being one of Riot's day's off, she had decided to just go and pick up the food, grab some beer and wine, and some fruity drinks on the way home while I gave George a small tour of the apartment and listened while he filled me in on all his friends.... Designer friends I might add.

This guy had some connections. Not to mention that he was also one of the fashion designers himself. 'Georgie G.'

Someone everyone knew. Well, the name at least.

One backwards G and an upside down G, hooked by the top curve of the two letters, were on every hot bag, in every hot store.

The cost was jaw dropping.

And I had just made an easy friend.... now, if only I could get him to stay after he met Riot.

And the guys who, listening to the chattering in the lounge(living room), had just arrived.

Please let them keep all comments to themselves.

Taking George back to the lounge, and introducing him to the guys, had actually gone better than I would have guessed.

Now, we were all just kicking it back on the sofa, taking and laughing, waiting for Riot who was coming up the outside stairs.

The moment the door was opened we heard the freezing voice complaining about the weather being 'too damn frosty'.

"Riot." I called a greeting. She nodded in return, to cold to say any more.

Lazily, she tossed a bag of food at Skylar and drinks at Emmet and Leo, deciding to drop her coat on Viper and shake the loose snow off her hair and onto George and me.

I squealed and snatched her wet jacket from Viper and threw it back at her. She laughed and dropped it over the couch, not bothering to care about the drops of formally frozen water to the rug below.

"Okay, we got the movie," She popped it in the tv and turned back to us. "I got the food, the drinks, and I'm missing my..."

"Brain?" I suggested. She shot a dirty look at me and shook her head. "Blanket."

"Both start with a B, sure you're not getting them confused?"

"Positive."

"Whatever you say." She rolled her and flicked her hand in the air, shoving her hip in a painful looking manor.

Dropping down in my lap seconds later she turned to George. "Hello there, I'm Riot. Is it true that you really have a Husband?" Oh God.

George stared at her for a long moment, as if deciding if she was just joking around before he answered, a hint of a shy smile lurking at the corners of his lips. "Nah, he's just a boyfriend."

Riot nodded as if she understood completely. "Keeping material?"

"Not really."

"You should cut him loose."

"I should, shouldn't I?"

"It's healthy for the soul to rid yourself of annoying things." Was it just me, or did it seem like that was directed towards someone?

"I guess you're right." He finally sighed. I almost leaped for joy. If the guys didn't scare the potential friends away, Riot did with her blunt and almost rude behavior. He passed. I could almost see the satisfaction rolling off the small woman in my lap and a little voice in the back of my head spoke to me. And it wasn't her.

My legs hurt, it said. And if I thought about it, they did feel a little numb and there were needles everywhere.

I shoved her off me and to the floor.

Bye-bye Riot.

_'Bitch,'_ She groaned in my head, rubbing her back with an annoyed expression.

George nodded thoughtfully. "Don't forget Riot, you must rid yourself of annoying things..."

Riot smiled and I felt my blood run cold. "You right." Second later. "Vampy number one, you hold her down and I'll go find a knife or something."

I started to run.

_______________________

I had been caught.

And beaten.

With a feather packed pillow.

....

Gotta hate those fat things.

Riot was crumbled face down on the floor, still recovering from the blow to the back of her head that had been delivered by yours truly.

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't enjoyed it.

Currently, I was still pounding my already abused pillow on my more abused twin, eying the 'sneaky' George that was trying to sneak up on me.

I waited until he was behind me, just within my arms length before I whipped around and caught him by surprise, hitting his knees hard enough to send him to the floor on top of Skylar. In turn, Skylar pushed him off and I could already see his annoyance with being touched by anything or anyone that was not a pillow or Riot.

Well.

This shall be payback shall it?

I shared a look with my twin that had already seemed to have forgiven me for a better cause and we nodded calmly to one another. And without a second thought, we launched ourselves at the already ticked vampire, taking him hard to the ground.

I felt so sorry for the poor couple that lived beneath us. The ones that had that small dog that yapped constantly.

Yeah... And I felt kinda sorry for us too. The two of us that were going to be knocked around roughly because we had decided to make a stupid move. Because we had decided to bring fun, to the round, dull man who was more stone than he was vampire.

To the man who secretly loved my sister, more than he ever should have.

____________________________

The time had come and the sky had slipped into a dark and peaceful slumber, not letting the moon and the stars come out to play. The moon that was so tired, it could barely keep the glow to it's skin.

And the stars that were so worn out, they couldn't flicker anymore.

And I, I was all alone, laying on the roof my apartment building, on the highest stretch of the roughest shingle, just trying to blend into the dark.

Not to feel, but to become the wind that stroked my face, tugged my hair, and pulled my clothes, begging me to come and play.

To dance across the empty ballroom that was the dark sky, being seen by none. Heard by none.

Just the two of us.

The wind and me.

Dancing the graceful and slow dance. Listening to the instrumental band, that wasn't truly there.

I just tried to make myself believe.

I tried to make myself believe that I could waltz the night away, alone and happy, just to wake another day.

And maybe it was the coon of the breeze, or maybe it was the lull of my own thoughts, that brought me to a quiet and peaceful sleep.

One that would be forgotten as I awoke from the dream that I knew was fake.

There was no wind calling to me.

The sun had not stopped the moon and the stars for they had taken over. Flooding the sky with their kin.

There was no empty ballroom, and there was no music, and there was no dancing and there was no peace.

It was the real world.

The real sky.

I knew the difference between my dreams, and reality.

And this, this was a dream.

__________________________

**(Two Days Later)**

Saturday.

Funny.

I hadn't even realized yesterday was Friday. I guess that no schooling should have brought me from the slump I was in, but it didn't.

And Riot, she was too busy hanging out with Skylar, the boy who had, four months ago, proposed his feelings of addiction.

She was glowing with happiness, and I had taken the weight of being alone and tired upon my own shoulders. Closing the connection between my replica and I.

Whether she realized it or not, she was so much different than the Riot I knew a year ago.

So, so much different.

So vibrant.

Exploding with the held up joy, that our 'parents' had forced her to block off. To try and seal it forever. But it was like trying to hold back a river with a rock. But eventually, that rock would erode and wear away, and the water would all rush out, feeling the expanse of the ever growing freedom.

And I would never hurt her. Not if I didn't have to.

And I knew, I knew it would hurt myself and her, to steal her from the high she was on. To cleanse her of these new and foreign feelings. Because it would kill her.

And I didn't want to be her murderer.

__________________________

I awoke from yet another nap, my kitten at my feet purring contently as I stared yet again another invisible hole through the ceiling.

I hadn't moved all day.

The phone laying silent and unused on my side table. A flipped through phone book, dropped ungraciously to the floor below and a discarded picture that glared from across the room, bringing the wretched and unwanted tears to my eyes.

The picture of two little smiling girls and two tired adults, the two tired adults that looked far older than one should have thought.

There was a reason we were sent away.

Riot just didn't want to believe it.

She wanted to believe that we were unwanted and un-wantable. That we just pretended to have once loved the family that had not just abandoned us on the street like she remembered.

There was a reason.

A reason that I hated.

And a reason, that I would never tell Riot.

Not until the day I died.

______________________

Tissues were littered across the soft expanse of my sheets and I tossed and turned, my kitten long forgotten, had made his way safely to the pillow beside my head.

Why was it I couldn't get away.

Their eyes, they were everywhere.

Everywhere I looked, all around, closing in, like walls. I couldn't get away, I couldn't get out. It was hopeless. _I_ was hopeless.

I was hopeless, because I had given up. I had given up before I had even tried.

I fell to my knees, pulling them close to my chest and trembled. Trembled with such a force I couldn't stop. Not even when the tears began to slid silently down scared cheeks.

I wanted to tell them to go away.

To never come back.

But I couldn't.

Just like I couldn't take down the picture of the two people who had brought us into the world only to leave us alone.

Even though they had no choice.

Just like I had no choice.

I knew it was wrong, to tell them to leave.

They belonged in this darkness just as much as I did.

But they couldn't leave.

And I could.

______________________

I pried my eyes open only to be burned by the glare of the setting sun through my window. I hadn't gotten out of bed once today.... And now that I thought about it, I really had to go to the bathroom....

_________________________

After a shower I had forced myself to take, I had dropped, naked, to the bed, feeling more tired now than I had before.

As my conscious slipped away from my grasp, I felt a warm kitten curling into the skin of my stomach, and two, soft as silk, hands on my shoulders....

_______________________

I felt so groggy.

Like I had a haze in my brain, and it wouldn't go away.

I was so warm, so warm and but I couldn't move.

I could feel my breath tightening in my throat. I could feel the tightening of my chest as I tried to stop myself from hyperventilating. Breath, I told myself, just remember to _Breath_.

Breath, hotter than hot, touching the back of my neck.

Hissing.

Growling.

Whispers.

Meowing.

Again.

Hissing.

Growling.

Whispers.

Meowing.

Again.

I wanted to cover my ears, to block out the noise. Even if the voices _were_ beautiful. So, so beautiful. Like a lullaby. Just lulling me to sleep.

This warm bond surrounding me, it moved, it tightened. To the point where I got to where I thought I wouldn't be able to breath.

But I could.

So why was my throat so tight?

And why was my mouth so dry?

And why did I feel hands on me? Stroking my hair and whispering sweet whispers into my ear. Blowing hot air with every word.

I groaned.

The stroking continued and as did the voices.

"I'm not going to hand her over you know."

"What will you do, I wonder, should I-"

"Don't even _think_ about finishing that sentence! Not even in your head!"

"But why? I have already mar-"

"No!" Someone snarled. "No you did not!"

"But look, even you can see something so clear. Even you can _smell_ something so clear. That is _my_ scent. You, you are nothing."

"Fuck you!"

"So noisy. You'll wake her."

Claws touched lovingly at my shoulders.

I almost opened my eyes.

I really almost did.

Because it had suddenly clicked where I had heard that voice before. That beautifully calm and silently deadly voice.

It was Viper.

And I was naked.

________________________________

My mind reeled. What in the hell was I suppose to do now? Now that I was being cuddled with like a teddy, naked, and in the arms of a vampire....

First: Make sure hair covered neck, not that it helped, every _other_ inch of my skin was showing.

Second: Hope my heart doesn't fly out of my chest at the rate it's going.... or if I change that around, let's hope I don't go into cardiac arrest.

Third: Make sure blankets covered body, even though he had his arms around my waist and was, currently, drawing circles on the warm skin of my tummy.

Fourth: Look asleep.

Yeah, as if I could manage any of those.

Dammit all.

I was _so_ screwed.

Might as well give myself up right?

My lids slid open slowly as they were assaulted with the last rays of the dying sun.

"Afternoon Kali." Hot breath in my ear send chills down my spin that I struggled to suppress.

Failing, I whipped around, my confusion as clear as day, coloring my face. "What the hell-" I choked out, aware he was there, but still not ready for the shock of seeing a _shirtless_ Viper.

Oh Hell, I was in Heaven.

I couldn't tear my gaze away from the relaxed body of Viper. The way he lounged comfortably against bunched up pillows, the way his arm hung loosely from my naked waist. The way he flashed his fangs in a goofy smile. Like as if to say, _"Okay, you caught me."_

I couldn't move. "Jesus," I breathed.

"Not quite, but you can just call me Viper." His mouth slipped into an amused smirk at my embarrassed expression.

I had been caught staring and now a blush spread like a wildfire across my cheeks.

I took over Riot's 'Emotions For Survival'.

"What the hell are you doing in here? Without a shirt? Get out!" In my head, I demanded the blush disperse and NOT come back, but it must have misheard me because it began to spread down the length of my neck.

"You, my darling, are without _so_ much more. Beautiful view by the way." My eyes widened as I stared at him.

My face dropped quickly as I examined the view he was so excited about.

My breasts, completely bare and in the cold air perked, were exposed to him as I noticed how the covers had fallen, pooling at my hips while my chest heaved with the sudden realization.

"What are they?" He continued. "Cs? Ds?"

I refused to answer him as I made a dive for the covers. "I do believe I saw your bra and it did _not_ look big enough to hold those babies." I wanted to smack him, I thought as tears sprung to my eyes in embarrassment.

He fished under the covers for me, pulling me up as I struggled in vein to escape him.

Sliding me onto his jean clad lap, he trapped me in steel arms, resting his beautiful head on my shoulder. "Don't," He whispered. "Don't hide from me."

"Go to hell," I hissed. "You should have thought about that before you decided to bask yourself in-"

"In something that you had exposed to me." I stayed silent and out of ways to respond to what he told as the truth.

"I hadn't known."

"I hadn't minded."

"You're sick."

"You're gorgeous."

I closed my eyes. Why couldn't he just stop? Just stop and let me think.

He had an answer for everything. "Why won't you leave?"

"I don't want to."

"I _do_." Secretly I wanted him to go against me. Secretly, I wanted him to stay.

"Is that what you want?"

"Yes."

He stayed quite, thoughtful. "No."

"No?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because, You're mine and I want to stay. You have no choice."

"I'm no ones." I growled, as if warning him to continue.

"You're wrong."

"_You're_ wrong."

"How so?"

"I don't see your name on me." I closed my eyes.

"How about..." Viper slid his hand from my shoulder, down the length of my tummy, and came to a slow stop at my hip, drawing circles with his addictive fingers. "Here."

His knowing voice, his knowing eyes, Him.

My eyes opened and dropped to the suggested spot of their own will.

Maybe because I had known I would find something I hadn't wanted to look, and maybe there was a part of me that just wanted to prove him wrong. But I looked.

And I wished I hadn't.

Because there, in all its black and blue glory, was a bite mark. A bite mark we had learned in high school.

Mating class. Because that was about the time when shifters and vampires had been added into the schooling system. They had to have classes too.

But this was one of the few classes humans had to attend to as well. Because they had to know when or if they were being courted by a shifter or being marked by a vampire. And if you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

But I had listened in that class.

And this mark, this was not the mark of a vampire.

This was the mark of a Shifter.

I couldn't talk.

My voice was caught in my dry throat.

"Shocking isn't it?" He whispered seductively in my ear, blowing hot air across my neck and cheeks. "To find that someone you believed to be a vampire for a_ whole_ year, turned out to, not be a blood sucking creature at all."

"But you drink-"

"All by choice baby. But I should tell you, it tastes wonderful." I felt sick.

"What kind of shifter are you?" He asked for me. "Well, since you asked, I don't see any harm in telling you." His voice was disgustingly beautiful as he quietly tore me apart with his words. "I'm a cat shifter. A Panther actually. So, what do you think?"

The room was spinning. But I still answered. "I think you're repulsive. And I think you should leave." My tone left no room for argument, but he still protested.

"I already told you Kali, I'm not leaving. And... repulsive, that's such a harsh word." He nuzzled into the side of my neck, groaning as I jerked away from him. I could feel his grin on my skin as he latched himself to me again.

This all a game to him.

A possessive game that only had one ending.

He was no longer the Viper I had known for a year.

He was someone else. Someone else that had been borrowing a face, wearing it like a mask as he waited for the perfect moment to pounce.

And he did.

And he waited long enough.

Because he had caught me off guard.

Because, I, I was too trusting. Giving everyone around me the benefit of the doubt.

Unlike Riot, because Riot had never trusted anyone but me. And it had taken years for her to even _speak _to the Lou brothers. But Skylar. Skylar had done something to her.

He got into her good graces in just a day.

Because.... no one can resist the temptation of a vampire... because they were like the best drug in the world.

Just one dose, and you're hooked for life.

I was so, so stupid.

Viper brought me down to the bed, pulling himself on top of me.

And I closed my eyes, willing this all to stop, and wishing it would all just go away.

But it didn't.

And I couldn't make it.

So I just let myself go. And prayed it would all end soon.

**_______________________________**

**O_O**

**I am sooooooooooo sorry.**

**Please don't quit the story, it will get better I promise, but this was the only way I could think of to make things all work out in the end.**

**You understand don't you?**

**Please?**

**PLEASE!**

**Okay, so this is a late Christmas present, Sorry.**

**[Merry Christmas]**

**Special Thanks to:**

**Fell**

**c.a.s 1404**

**Berry nYaPpY Rui**

**Later,**

**-Ashley**

**(It will all get better soon.)**


	7. Stupid

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

****Riots P.O.V.****

I could hear her.

I could hear her silent cries.

And I could hear her pleas, the pleas she was too proud to plead aloud.

"Kali!" I shot out of my bed, aiming for the door. Almost there. Almost there!

"Riot!" Skylar tackled me. "Don't go." He whispered, soothing my head as he pressed me into the carpet, kissing my forehead as I struggled.

"No! No, No, NO! Let go of me! He, what he's doing to her! I can't. No. I've got to go! Let me GO!" I struggled in vein as he held me tight. So tight it hurt. But I wasn't going to complain.

_'Hold on Kali, Sissy's coming for you. Okay, don't cry. Do you hear me? Don't cry. Riot's coming.'_ I could hear her sobbing thoughts, I could hear every tear she wanted to cry. But her eyes stayed dry, thoughts unsaid.

I threw my fist at Skylar, catching him off guard as his hands clamped down harder on my squirming body. "Let Go, Let Go, Let Go!" I pleaded. I had to get to her. I had to save her.

She couldn't do this alone. She couldn't _be_ alone. Even though that was how she's been for months. I was just too blind to help her.

I could see her thoughts in my sleep, they just never clicked. Not until now, and not until I head her calling for my help.

"Kali!" I screamed and I heard Emmet and Leo come running.

They slammed into my door, ignoring the boom as it left a dent in my wall. "What the hell!" Leo paused. "What are you doing to her?"

"Viper." He growled, still holding me down.

"Kali!" I wailed, swinging everything I could at him. _'Kali I'm coming.'_

I didn't want to lie to her. I had to come. I couldn't let him do this to her. Never.

"Stop it!" Skylar snarled at me, punching the ground near my head.

"Fuck you, you damn son of a BITCH! You knew what he was going to do! You let him do that to my SISTER! TO MY TWIN!"

"Riot, Riot calm down, It's not as bad as you think." Emmet soothed.

In response, I grabbed a notebook and sent it flying at his head while I pounded down on Skylar's with a candle stick I had found in my little 'Candle Stick' baggy.

It broke.

I grabbed another.

Skylar's hand shot out, knocking away the dried wax, and let his hand clamp down on my wrist while I tried to claw at the offending body part with my other.

I brought my knee up, just barely missing his jewel. "Let me go! KALI!"

Leo looked lost, his eyes darting from Skylar to me while Emmet was trying to decided if he needed to interfere.

"I swear to damn Mighty Heavens, if you do not let me go, I will rip you to to FUCKING SHREDS! DO YOU HEAR ME SKYLAR! I WILL, I SWEAR I WILL!"

He snarled again in my face as I called to Kali again. _'It's okay, I will come, I'm just being delayed. Don't cry. Please.'_

Skylar pinned down my other arm and I spit at his face. "Go to hell."

"I'm not letting you go."

"It would be in your best interest."

"Think so?"

"And if I do?"

"Then you're stupider than I thought."

"You think a lot of things. Try not to hurt yourself."

And I raised myself as high off the ground as I could, connecting my lips with his.

And as I knew he would, he relaxed his hands in shock long enough for me to launch myself past the guys and through the door, down the hall, and into Kali's door.

But Skylar caught me.

Before my hand could touch the handle, he caught me.

I screamed, angry at my failure, and in pain for not keeping my promise to Kali.

I couldn't do one stupid thing.

I was such an idiot.

I was so stupid.

So very, very stupid.

I couldn't do anything right.

My own parents didn't even want me.

Because I was so useless.

I screamed again.

"KALI! KALI NO!"

But it didn't matter.

I could have screamed all day.

And it wouldn't have mattered.

Because as Skylar pulled me away, I heard her cry.

_____________________________________

****Three Weeks Later****

I sat on the couch calmly, too mad to even look in Skylar's direction.

To hurt to even cry.

He wouldn't let her come out.

College had ended two weeks ago, we had a 'summer' to enjoy ourselves. It was something this city did, they gave their college students summers of two and a half months to prepare themselves for another year.

All it did was make school take longer.

But they did it anyway.

But they could screw themselves and I wouldn't care.

At the moment it didn't matter.

What mattered was that he never let _my_ sister come out of that room, having one of the guys bring blood and food up to the room.

I always tried to go, but it would only end with screaming punching and defeat.

It was no use.

_'Kali?'_

I tried.

No answer.

She was sleeping.

But even when she was awake, she would never speak to me. It was as if she were ashamed.

She wasn't mad. Not at me anyways. I could feel her anger, directed at someone else.

Viper.

I was so stupid to have believed he would have brought no harm.

So very stupid.

I could feel Kali, the way she died a little more everyday.

Everyday.

And soon, there would be nothing left of the sister I had once known.

Nothing.

And every night, I cried waterless tears.

"Riot?" Emmet's soft voice called to me from the kitchen. "Would you like something to eat?"

Everyone spoke so softly around me, like I was fragile.

Like the slightest noise, the slightest movement would set me off.

And they were right.

"Riot?" Emmet tried again. I didn't answer.

"Yes." Skylar replied, knowing I never would. "Just bring something like bread."

"Kay."

"You need to eat Riot," Skylar said, relaxed against the recliner next to the couch. "I let it go yesterday, but you're not going to starve yourself."

I ignored him, staring with dull eyes at the colorful tv screen.

Kali looked so dead. I could see her in my mind. Her eyes looked to vacant, her hair looked so lifeless. Her body, so frail.

She was a wilting flower.

And there was nothing I could do to save her.

"Riot?" Leo asked as he came around the corner. "I need help with the laundry. How do you start the washer?"

He knew how.

He just wanted to hear my voice. But I wouldn't let him.

I refused.

He sighed and left back for the back room.

And all was quiet.

Until the phone rung.

My head snapped to the side, waiting for Emmet to get it like I knew he would. Skylar too looked back while even Leo came back out, waiting to hear what would happen.

"Hello?" ..... "Yes." ..... "And you want?" ...... "Okay." ..... "Are you sure?" ..... "Should we-" .... "You're right. I'll bring it up in a minute. Bye."

I knew it. It was _him._

I hated _him._

"Skylar?" Leo finally spoke up, talking with hushed voices that they thought I couldn't hear.

"Are you going to let her go to work?" Me, they were talking about me.

"No. Go up there please and have a talk with her manager, she wont be going in for a while."

"What if she fires her?"

"Convince her not to."

"What if I can't?"

"You can."

Leo sighed and nodded, sending me a sorry look that I pretended not to even acknowledge.

I listened for the sound of a metal tray, and I waited until I heard it. The sound of a glass plate being lifted and placed, the sound of cup being set down, and then he was ready.

Walked past he threw the loaf of bread at Skylar and proceeded towards Kali's room.

My hope sparked.

Maybe I could make it this time.

Maybe if I waited, waited until just the right moment.

I sat up, and stupid me, never saw Skylar coming until he dropped next to me, fastening his arm around my waist and holding me with a grip of iron.

The door opened, Emmet went in, grabbed the old tray, and walked out.

"No, No, No, please, please Skylar, Please. You have to let me go." I turned, looked up at him with desperate eyes. "Please, if you saw her, if you saw her you would see how dead she looks, and how she's about to give up! Please, if you keep this up, you'll kill her!"

I could feel the tears rising, but they wouldn't fall.

"Please," I whispered brokenly. Knowing, I had no hope.

Knowing, he would never let me go, even if it was going to save my sister.

And he didn't.

He held me tight as the door came to a close and listened as the lock clicked, and began to open the bag of bread.

Emmet came back as I stared at Kali's door that was down the hall. So far out of my reach.

"Riot, eat." Skylar held the bread to my mouth, but I had no appetite. I wasn't hungry.

I was sad.

"No." I whispered. Knowing what was going to happen to her.

Knowing that she wasn't going to last the rest of the week.

Because Viper, and Skylar, and Leo, and Emmet, they were all killing her.

And there was nothing I could do but watch and wait.

____________________________________

I was pulled from sleep by Emmet, forced to endure another day.

"Come on now love, you need a shower. You can take one by yourself can't you? I can give you fourty minutes, but don't make me send Skylar in there after you. Okay?" He sounded like he card, but how could he?

No one who cared could ever do a thing to someone like Kali.

But he, he was just a _vampire_. A blood sucking_ creature_ who could never feel a thing for anything or anyone.

They were nothing more than the walking dead.

I pulled away from him, wobbling on unsteady legs as I made my way to the bathroom.

I locked the door and stared at it for a few minutes, as if deciding what I should do.

_'Kali,'_ I tried. _'Kali, are you awake?'_

I listened, but heard nothing.

I slipped off my clothes and turned on the water, making it so hot it burned.

I dropped to the cemented tiles and pulled my knees close. I didn't know how much longer I could do this.

My body wanted to cave but mind wanted me to stay strong. And I didn't know which to choose.

If I stayed strong, Kali may get better, but if I caved, There was no hope.

I could suffer for a cause like this, couldn't I?

Couldn't I?

Wasn't I strong enough?

My shower passed and I climbed out with newfound hope.

I was strong enough, I could bring her back.

She could do this and so could I.

We could do this.

Right?

___________________________________

I sat on the couch again, waiting for Emmet to hurry.

It seemed today, like he was going slower than he had ever gone.

It was taking him forever to put together a sandwich that we would be lucky if Kali ate. Finally, he placed the lidded glass of Real Blood on the tray, ready to take it to the room.

It was my day.

Skylar was out front, dealing with the pissed Landlord because we were late on paying our bills again. He wouldn't let me go to work so he was having to pay and from the sound of the yelling, he wasn't too happy. But then neither was the old hag.

And Leo was out shopping for groceries.

So I was in the clear.

Or I was, sitting so innocently on the couch until Emmet had started to make his way towards the back room. Then I had started to make my way back, hiding in case he turned to look back.

And before I knew it, he was there, the door was opened and I had a clear shot.

Or I did until Skylar came in and saw me.

He called my name, alerting Emmet and Viper while I stood stock still, as if decided what I should do.

Kali sat on the side of the bed, her back to me as I yelled her name. She turned and I paused. She looked so... dead.

"Kali." She only looked at me, as if she were trying to decide if this were a dream or a figment of her imagination.

I ran, Skylar ran, Viper made for the door, Kali jumped up, and Emmet was trying to make up his mind. Tray or Riot.

Everything was moving in so quickly, as if someone had pressed the fast forward button.

I slipped through the crack and tackled Kali, clutching her for my life while Skylar just about threw back the door.

"You asshole!" I screamed at Viper, tears actually falling, slipping down my cheeks as I held Kali close.

She sobbed into my shirt, holding onto me as if I was anchor, and she was going to float away.

Float away and never come back.

"How could you do this to her! You're killing her, You're all killing her!" Skylar started to come closer but tightened my grip on Kali and grabbed a pillow that had been knocked to the floor when I had flown across the room and chunked it at him.

He caught it and dropped it to the floor, never missing a step.

"Fuck off," I snarled.

"Riot stop this."

"Don't tell me what to do you self centered jackass!"

"Riot!"

"Shut UP!"

"Riot!"

"Emmet now!"

My eyes widened as Emmet dropped from the bed, snatching me and yanking me away from Kali as she screamed and darted back for me.

Viper grabbed her. And Viper restrained her.

And she gave me a look, a look so lost, and a look so pleading I cried, harder than I had ever cried before.

"YOU'RE KILLING HER YOU BASTARD! YOU'RE GOING TO FUCKING MURDER HER!"

"RIOT SHUT THE HELL UP!"

"GO SCREW YOURESELF!" I threw out my arms, catching onto the door border and dug my nails in.

"Kali!" I cried. "KALI NO!"

She sobbed, reaching for me and saying my name over and over. Like it was going to help her reach me.

It never did.

And the door slipped shut.

_________________________________________

"How could you be so stupid!" Skylar barked throwing me on the couch and towered over me. "He could have fucking killed you for touching her!"

"SHE'S MY SISTER!" I screamed back trying to stand up.

"I don't give a damn who she is to you! You could have died Riot! Died!"

"And she wont! You're setting her up for suicide!" I stood, matching his volume.

"She's not going to die. Get it through you pathetic mind that he's not going to kill her, He's not Riot, He's really not!"

"Fuck you!"

And then, he slapped me.

"Be a good bitch and sit on the couch like you have for the past three weeks and stop trying to be the hero."

Then he turned heel and left me stand, my cheek hot and my tears burning.

I was a fool.

I was a fool to think I could save her.

I couldn't even save myself.

My body crumbled to ground and I stared dumbly at the wall. "How could you." I accused it. "How can you just stand there like you don't give a damn."

But it never answered.

__________________________________

After a while, Leo had finally pulled me onto the couch, Emmet stayed away, knowing I would start screaming at him the moment I saw him, and Skylar just lounged in the chair, farthest from the couch as it would go.

"You want something to eat Riot?" Leo asked, his voice calm and his face collected.

I turned my face away. He sighed. "Are you sure? You only took a bite yesterday."

"That's because I shoved it down her throat." Skylar put in, flipping through channels.

"You're not helping."

"I think I am. Just leave her alone, let her fucking starve if that's what she wants. No one's cares what she does."

Leo shot him a look and I stared at the non talking wall that still had yet to answer me.

_'I'm so sorry Kali._'

_'Yeah, me too.'_

And that was all she said before I felt our connection give way as she fell asleep.

Emmet stepped into the room and I stiffened.

If it hadn't been for him, I could have stayed with her longer. I could have held her longer.

But he stopped me, and he drug me out, and then, then he gave me to _him_.

He was lucky I wasn't throwing knives at him.

"Riot, you're going to eat." I looked at him through bored eyes.

"Why do you care?" Skylar sighed as he gave up trying to see around Emmet's figure that stood defiantly in front of the tv.

"You're a dick Skylar, have you looked at her? Tell me that she looks normal. Look at her face, look at her hair, look at her skin, Skylar. You can see her ribs. It's been four days, she needs to eat."

"And I suppose you'll be the one to feed her?"

"If you don't I will."

Silence.

"Do what you want." And Skylar walked off, the front door slamming behind him.

Emmet sighed but dutifully went into the kitchen to grab some more bread.

"Sit down, I can catch you before you even get down the hall and you know it." He called as he came back around the corner.

He sighed again and sat next to me. "You know, if you would just eat, you wouldn't be stuck on a bread only diet. In fact, bread is the only thing we can actually make you eat. Anything liquid you could knock over and anything too solid you would choke on. Bread, you don't even have to chew it, do you understand?" I stared at him blankly.

He was rambling.....

Someone forget to take their medication this morning?

He shook his head and fished out a couple slices of bread and tried to hand it to me. "Here." I turned my face away, evading the offending objects.

"Come on Riot, don't do this, just eat it. Please?" I couldn't, I wouldn't.

He sighed and rolled his head, working out the kinks.

______________________________________

The door slammed yet again as Skylar came into view. He paused, mid step and looked down at us from above the couch. "What the hell, I thought you were trying to get her to eat, not rape her."

"I wasn't going to rape her," Emmet huffed angrily. "She would opened her mouth and we fell off the couch. And then she STILL wouldn't take the food so I was trying to force it down her throat."

Skylar sighed and tossed a thin plastic bag on the couch and dropped to his knees, taking the place Emmet one had over me.

He grabbed the discarded piece of bread and I started to struggle, knowing what was coming. He applied more weight on my hip and I yelped in pain. Taking this rare chance, he shoved half the bread into my mouth.

I gagged but eventually swallowed, my chest heaving with the effort.

"You bastard," I growled. "I told you I wasn't hungry!"

He only stared down at me, his eyes hooded.

"Get off." My voice felt so strained, as if it was dulled from being so unused.

His parted lips looked moist but he licked them anyways, his eyes never once leaving me.

And just as I was about to question his temperature, his lips came crashing down on mine.

Immediately, my back stiffened and my hands shot up to press against the urgent vampire, in a pitiful attempt to get away.

Stupidly, I opened my mouth to scream but was instead attacked by the impatient tongue of Skylar.

I tried to pull away, I really did, but his arms, the way he held me, it was all too much. My brain couldn't take it all. It was screaming "OVERLOAD" but my body was content to lay in the arms of the enemy.

_'Stupid, Stupid Heart'_ My mind accused.

_'Stupid, Stupid Mind'_ My heart shot back.

Emmet was gone I noticed, and Leo was being dragged away while they did nothing to save me from this bastard.

Skylar was relentless, I shoved, I hit, I kicked, but still he wouldn't let go.

His hot mouth moved against mine, and his tongue stroked at mine, trying to coax it into replying. And eventually, it gave in.

So, so stupid the both of them were, my mind and heart. They were like a pair, the Stupidets.

I felt the tears burning at the back of my eye lids as I closed them, finally giving in the the thing, to the person, I hated the most.

I was so foolish.

Back then I was.

A year ago.

I had actually believed in him.

Yeah, so, so foolish.

________________________________

**Okay, this chapter is a little short, but that's because I'm at a**

**friends house.**

**Yeah, we were up all night on Rock Band and then,**

**We went TO THE DONUT STORE!!**

**YAYYYY!**

**LOL.**

**You know, donuts are the freakin bomb.**

**XP**

**-Ashley**


	8. Tears Like Acid

****In previous chapter, Skylar had pointed out that Riot was lucky that Viper had not attacked her. I wanted to clear up that the ONLY reason Viper did NOT attack Riot for touching his 'mate', Kali, was because they had the same face. Twins.****

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

****OOC****

I was held captive, in my own house, and in my own body.

By who?

The man I hated the most.

But... I had finally realized, that he was the man I loved the most.

And that frustrated me to no end.

Why did I love him and how could I love him. Those were the two questions, always nagging at my mind. Every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day.

Always.

_________________________________

****Riot's P.O.V****

I opened my mouth, not because I wanted to, but because I knew what would happen should I not.

Skylar.

Such a beautiful name.

For a beautiful person.

Yeah, if that person was a vampire.

But the inside of him, the side that really mattered, the side that he always showed, was the side I loathed the most.

He watched me with appraising eyes from across the room as I was force-fed by Leo, because I had bitten Emmet, and though it didn't hurt, he didn't want to be 'snapped at'.

I had tried to bite Leo too, but Skylar had popped me in the back of the head with a rolled up piece of paper, like a dog.

I allowed bits and pieces of a chocolate chip muffin to be placed inside my mouth as I chewed slowly, Trying to disguise my anger.

His lips upturned in a smirk and I turned away.

I concentrated on the flavoring of the muffin, the soft texture of the mildly hot bread, taking in the smell...

And I ignored the ever growing growl that was rising from the pissed vampire's chest, and was currently working on putting holes in the recliner because of the tightness he used to grip at the arms.

I almost grinned, opening my eyes lazily, letting them fall on the disheveled ebony hair, slipping down to icy blue eyes and pierced full lips. Letting my eyes slid down the beautiful curve of his neck.

I frowned refusing to open my mouth, my attention caught, as a small piece of bread touched my lips gingerly.

What the hell.

When did my eyes get two different colors?

The long mirror Kali and I had placed between the two windows on the wall behind Skylar showed they did. I stood abruptly, not noticed the way Leo followed my actions.

I made my way towards Skylar and he frowned trying to see what I was staring at.

I stepped around the chair he inhabited and stepped up to the glass, touching my face softly.

One bright Emerald colored eye, and one Smoky Gray colored eye.

Two different colors.

And that wasn't normal.

My eyes were nothing more than a dull green, never mind bright Emerald.

This was wrong.

But then why did it happen?

Skylar was behind me, finally seeing what I saw.

Leaning close his eyes narrowed. His hands were on my shoulder, tightening before he jerked me around to face him.

He studied me closely, and leaning in I could almost hear the wheels turning.

His expression changed so fast I backed away, but still not fast enough.

"Is it-?" Leo started, never finishing, but Skylar nodded anyway as he tugged me into his chest, resting his chin on the top of my head softly, nuzzling into the blonde, almost white, hair. And I swore I felt a kiss....

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice straining.

"Hugging you." He replied, his voice slightly muffled.

"Why?"

"I want to."

"Get off." I growled, struggling against his relentless hold.

"I don't want to."

"I don't care."

I could feel his breath hot on the tip of my ears, just enough to send chills down my spine.

I could fell his hands slipping lower until the circled around my waist, pulling me closer if that were possible.

And I stood perfectly still, like a statue, staring at his broad shoulder.

And one minute we were in the living room, and the next we were in my room, and he was sprinkling kisses down the expanse of my neck pausing at the hollow of my throat.....

__________________________________

****Kali's P.O.V.****

I stared blankly at the wall, trying to clear my mind of all things.

Like the warm body of a shifter pressed into my back, his arm draped over my stomach, sealing me to his chest.

I forced my heart not to care.

And I forced my heart to let go of a stupid little crush.

I made it let go, even though it was killing me.

Unconsciously, he pressed his soft lips to my bare shoulder, making a sound of contentment as he snuggled closer. Like a large cat, seeking warmth and attention.

I wanted to pull away, I wanted to throw things and I wanted to scream, scream until my voice was gone. But what good would it have done?

What good would it have done to do something so pointless and waste valuable energy?

So instead, I let him place his head into the crook of my neck, even though it made me sick.

But my body loved it, reacting to his hot breath as it slipped slowly over my skin. Reacting to the way he stroked my belly in his sleep, acting as if he actually cared.

Hot tears slipped past closed eyes, running down pale cheeks, stopping at quivering lips....

I hated this.

All of this.

The way his face looked so peaceful as he slept on, oblivious to my tearful stares. The way his full lips parted as he breathed and the way his eye brows pushed down into a 'V' when I twisted in his arms, half trying to see him better and half trying to get as far away as possible.

But then, he made a sound in his throat. Like a whimper, so sad and heartbreaking, I stopped moving, my eyes falling to my hand that had found it's way to his chest.

I could feel the sad vibrations and the thump of his extremely slow heart. The one you wouldn't feel unless you were feeling for it.

I took another look at his face, and this face, the face I hated, was not the face of a killer, and maybe that was why it was so easy to get mixed up.

Clear skin, beautifully strait teeth, violet pools so deep, you couldn't see the bottom. And the more I stared, the more I saw. How was it, I wanted to know, someone like this, someone with a face like this, could be so horrible. So... possessive. So... full of emotions.

It didn't seem normal.

It was like this person, this shifter, had no problems, non in the world and non in his mind.

But I knew for a fact that this wasn't true.

Who could say that having your.... your mate hate you, would be considered as having no problems?

Mate.

Such a weird word.

Four letters with such a powerful meaning.

It was like submitting yourself to the higher alpha. It was like calling them your master.

And the higher alpha... it was him.

Viper.

The man with a smooth face and complicated life.

The man with the unwilling mate.

Yeah, that was him.

________________________________

How had the time past by so quickly?

I watched, through curtains, as the sun rose and dropped. I felt as though it was all a movie, all moving so fast it had become a blur.

I felt Viper stirring behind me, his hands tightening and releasing, as if he were fighting the urge to wake up.

I closed my eyes, breathing evenly, deeply.

But he already knew. I could tell by the way I felt his lips upturn into a small smile as he placed his lips to my bare shoulder as he ran his finger under the tank top strap, popping it lightly. I jumped and he got the reaction he had wanted.

I bit my lip and opened my eyes, stealing a quick glance at the clock. Eight o'clock. Didn't he sleep enough? The day passed him by while he slept it all away.

Not that I minded.

Not at all.

But it _was_ lonely.

I had no one to talk to, and Riot was sleeping... I hated to think of what Skylar had done. She didn't know, but I did. He had marked her, and a vampire's mating mark was close enough to a shifters mating mark. Though there were a few different 'rules'.

While a shifter was unbelievably possessive, a vampire was demanding and rough. Getting their point across with actions more than words. And they required a full, on your back, neck bared, submission. A shifter wanted you to meet them half way, but have eyes for them and only them. And while I could understand that, I wondered how much worse Riot would have it than me.

Skylar, was like a mix of shifter and vampire. Not physically of course, but in attitude. I could already see the way he got his objects seen.

Slapping her as he had done the other day was his way of telling her to stop her yelling and listen to him. Following her and forbidding her to leave the house was his way of protecting her, protecting his potential mate.

All this time he had been courting her.

And neither of us had noticed the signs.

Not until it was too late.

Because he had gotten tired of waiting for her to accept, and it wasn't in a vampires nature to wait around patiently for them to make up their mind.

What they wanted, they got. Never mind who it pissed off in the process.

And now, Skylar would probably never let Riot out of his sight again, not for the next few years. I would be lucky if I ever got out of this _room_ in that time.

Maybe that was the reason I felt such a hostility towards Viper. He had courted me too, in a way that I had never seen, but he had. But he wouldn't let me leave, he wouldn't let me see my sister. And I hated that kind of restriction.

Viper reached over, taking hold of my hand and stroking it softly. Bringing it up to be graced with soft pink lips.

"Love," He whispered. "Let me hold you."

What a stupid thing to ask. He was already holding me.

"Relax," he breathed, his hot breath fanning over my cooled skin. But I just couldn't. Not when I thought about everything he had done. And everything he had allowed Skylar to do.

It was sickening.

The thoughts.

I tried. Because he asked, I tried.

But it just wasn't happening, and he sighed dejectedly and surprisingly, he pulled away slightly, giving me the room I hadn't had in twenty-four hours.

I filled my lungs with oxygen and ignored the way my body felt so cold.

I was being stupid.

It was probably the exhaustion talking. I could already feel the heaviness of my eye lids, drooping, begging to drop. And who was I to deny such a demand?

I allowed them to close, but was too far gone to feel the warm arms pulling me back into a warm embrace and the soft lips that moved gently against my cheek, catching the tears salty tears that still lingered.

____________________________________

****Riot's P.O.V****

Pain filled eyes rolled to the ceiling, a whimper surpassed bruised lips. Hair slipped, strand by stand, falling from sweaty skin to the mattress below.

Pillows were strewn across the floor, thrown in the fit of madness.

The wall behind the metal bed sustained deep hits, some so deep there were holes in the wall.

I felt nauseous.

The room was a spinning mass of colors, fading into one another so fast, it made me dizzy. Like a merry go round of flashing lights.

I could hear my blood rushing in my ears, I could feel the air caressing my skin, and I could feel Skylar's teeth, his fangs, piercing into my external carotid artery, sipping my blood like a fine wine.

Weak and vulnerable, I lay beneath him, without even the strength to move my lips enough to form a plea. Black lurked at the corners of my vision and I couldn't feel my arms.

He held me like glass, a beautifully fragile object, one that could break with the slightest touch.

My heart thumped pathetically, losing the race, slowing though the finish line was in clear sight.

Skylar released his mouth, letting my body fall slack in his arms, muscles like dead weights and tears like acid, they felt as if they weren't there.

His breath fanned across my heated face, blowing back my hair and touching my lips with a lover's caress. I hissed in my throat, trying to form the angry words I felt burning on my tongue.

He reached up tenderly, turning my head up to face him.

Skylar, though as gentle as he was, had never looked more dangerous. Wide shoulders rigid, cold eyes dark and hooded, long thin fingers clutching. He had a predatory look, a predatory aura, surrounding him, threating me.

He dropped his face into my hair, his breathing loud in my ear, as he lightly traced his nose along my jaw.

My bones felt like rubber, useless and soft.

He kissed my chin, my lips, my nose, my forehead, and back down again, lingering on my mouth.

He placed his hands on my stomach, running them up my sides, across my shoulders and back down my arms to link fingers, bringing my hands up to rest on the mattress on either side of my head. My skin burned, tingling in the path his hands had taken.

My senses went wild at his touch, his kiss, his smell. It was so exotic, so foreign, I couldn't get enough of it. It was like a drug, a drug so addictive and beautiful, it was unheard of.

________________________________________

**Okay, let us establish something here.**

**I is VERY sorry about the ten page short story (I usually make them 20 pages, but this one is 10) but you should see the stack of work my damn teachers assigned!**

**Spanish, History, Mathematical Equations, a cooking assignment, two essays, four tests to study for, and semester exams to prepare for.**

**Damn I hate school.**

**But then again, don't we all?**

**Or at least all my friends agree with me, LOL.**

**XD**

**Not to mention the dishes stacking up in the sink, and the smelly (Grins) dog next to me that REALLY needs a bath, and the two cats that are hissing and attacking one another like their lives DEPEND on it.**

**I already got scratched up trying to stop a few of the fights because one of the cats are de-clawed. Thus making it an unfair, not to mention painful, fight.**

**Please, if you love me, if you love my story, then please, do not murder me in my sleep. Please? It would be deeply appreciated, lol. **

**Once again, I am sorry, and here are the people I want to thank for the reviews that brought smiles to my face, XD**

**Berry nYaPpy Rui**

**jaceshadowhunter**

**JadedFoxFire**

**rocktheroxie**

**stef : (all in good time my friend, all in good time :P)**

**'Al-ee-sin'**

**SkiesTheLimit**

**c.a.s. 1404**

**Jonasfan391**

**Blulighteninggirl**

**xrayne13x**

**-Ashley**


	9. Falling Apart

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

****A Month and a Half Later****

It was still hard to believe, that Skylar and Viper had come to a steady, but annoyed, agreement.

Kali and I, were now aloud to see one another, and, not to mention school had started back up again, so now, with only four more years to go, I was... happy.

I guess.

I had finally gotten what I had wanted, my sister. But then why did I feel so lonely? Or, no, lonely wasn't the word. Detached. Yeah, that would work. I felt, _detached_ from my body, like it was moving on auto.

I felt, out of control.

Like a puppy, obedient.

I was called, I came, no questions asked. Like I was on a leash that seemed impossibly short. And I was doing everything in my power to stretch the rope as far as it could go.

I sat, perched on the corner of the plush couch with my legs stretched out to their full lengthen in front of me, eyes rolling at the television that was currently flashing the frighting images of half naked women draping herself over the back of a man who was grinning heatedly at the camera and holding a cologne with the name of 'Seductive Pride'.

_Slut,_ I scoffed. She looked half high and half dead. She dragged her limp lips over the tan skin of his throat, her hand tangled in the mass of sandy blond hair as she pulled herself closer, and subconsciously I wondered if this was going to become a porn shoot instead of a commercial.

I felt a small tug on the bottom of the baggy shirt I had borrowed from Skylar after he had insisted, almost roughly, that I wear only what he had worn before. He was such an annoying idiot.

I looked down to look into the small face of Andy, the small four year old that Emmet had insisted live with the six of us in the tiny little apartment we called our home, or we had until certain unwanted people suddenly showed up. Funny how these things work out.

Her cute face shined with glistening tears and she sniffed, rubbing her small button nose on the sleeve of her worn jacket and looked up at me with almost scared eyes.

Immediately, almost of their own accord, my arms reached out and swooped her into my hold, tucking her into my chest as I put my chin on her head and hushed her until her cries died down to hiccups. On cue, Skylar rounded the corner and paused as I narrowed my accusing eyes, driving holes through his annoyingly perfect face.

He had, and I knew, just about all he could have with the child.

After Emmet had brought her here, and after she had witnessed the fighting, the possessive demon Skylar could turn into, the monster he could be, she had rightfully hid in fear of him. Or she had until I came to Emmet's shared room and coaxed her out to eat, she had latched onto me like her Mother.

The one I quickly learned had been killed in an accident, or, in a hunting spree for the wolf shifters that had happened not too long ago. It was a freak accident really, the way the flares had gone off, catching the field and vehicles on fire, and in turn, catching the sleeping hunters aflame with it. The whole field and immediate surrounding of trees were gone, alone with all who were in the area. And it had just so happened, no matter how full of wolf their blood may be, they could still die. Despite how indestructible they made themselves seem. Because, poor wolf shifting Andy, had lost the only woman left in her family.

Skylar hadn't been able to get close enough to touch me with the girl curled into my stomach every moment of every day, and it hadn't helped at all that I had asked to let the girl sleep in my, our, bed. He just about threw a fit.

He snarled, baring his teeth in a frighting gesture as he stalked closer, brushing past the couch and into the kitchen. The sound of pans banging together met my ears along with the angry voice of Viper as they argued.

I looked down into the calm, sleeping face of my sister who had her face dug into her arms that she had crossed on my outstretched legs. Andy's arm curled around my neck as her thumb found her mouth as she yawned.

I reached out, keeping a warm hand on Andy's back, and softly smoothed back Kali's hair, taking a few strands and tucking them behind her ear as I sighed and leaned back, taking my time to enjoy the show that was just about to play.

On the overview, it seemed sad, of a little boy who lost his home and his family but slowly made his life worth living again. How... convenient.

I missed the ever approaching figure that didn't stop until it was directly behind me.

I felt the hand on my shoulder before I heard the voice and I stiffened as hot breath floated over my chilled skin. "Come to bed." It was an order that I was strongly opposed to. I wanted to see the movie! "Now." Jerk.

I gently shook Kali awake, telling her to go to her room. She nodded, only half conscious as she pulled herself up from the couch and slipped down the dark hall.

I didn't move until I heard the soft click of the door shutting gently.

I rolled my back and pushed myself off the arm of the plush couch, ready to lead the way until a calm arm stopped me. "No."

I looked up I confusion before it slowly clicked. He didn't want her there. Ready to object I opened my mouth, only to close it seconds later when his eyes hardened and his glare darkened. I was in trouble, and it would be cruel to make her watch. But he wasn't doing this for her. He wasn't even doing it for me. He just didn't want her there, and he knew that I wouldn't want her there, not if I knew what was going to happen.

He was using this to his advantage as he watched with a calculating stare as I slumped and continued down the hall, him fast behind me.

I raised my hand to the wood and knocked gently. "Emmet." I called softly, knowing he would hear me.

The door swung open and he looked down at me, his shoulder leaned against the the door jam as he assessed the situation.

Without a word he opened his arms and took Andy easily from my arms, smiled an apologetic goodnight and closed the door just as silently as he had opened it.

I allowed myself to be maneuvered in the direction of my own room without protest, expecting a swift slap to the face the moment we were within the solitude of my confining four walls. But the hit never came and I cracked an eyes wearily, afraid he was toying with me.

But he had his back to me, his hand still on the door knob. I bit my lip, deciding. "Skylar?" I asked, my body stiff, waiting in case he turned with an open hand.

"Why," his voice was quiet, his tone low as if he were merely thinking aloud. "Why do you shy away from me, like you're scared of me?" I was almost too shocked to speak, let alone process his words.

He turned to me and started to walk forward. I stumbled back until my knees hit the mattress and and I fell back and stared wide eyed as he crawled over me, his hair framing a face that looked... so delicate. So breakable. Like that was even possible.

He eyes looked so sad as he dropped his head to my stomach, curling into me in such a way, it reminded me of a heartbroken child. Hesitantly, I raised my hand to his soft hair and weaved my hand through the velvety strands, becoming more brave as I placed my free hand on his shoulder, holding him close as I stroked.

I don't know how long we had been like that, him clutching me like I was something of a rope, keeping him tied to life while I hummed a soft melody that seemed to fill the quiet room.

"Riot," he whispered. "I don't want you to be scared of me. I just- I just can't- hell I don't know. I just don't want you to be afraid." I had to reset the urge to tell him I already was, but held my tongue for the sake of the moment.

I could feel him drifting off, letting the soft pillowed clouds of darkness take him away from the rest of the world, and I said nothing, just continued on with the soft melodic melody. And stayed that way the whole night, even after the sun dipped beneath the tall buildings and pleasant homes, even after the stars came out to play, and even after the first rays of light broke the surface of the sky. It was, no doubt, a night to remember.

* * *

****Unknown****

"So this is it?" The weary man sighed. This was getting ridiculous. How long did it take to accomplish such a simple task? He could have done it in his sleep if his partner wasn't such a stubborn human. He had some choice words he would have died to tell her, hell, he would have been fine with poisoning her if he knew it wouldn't jeopardize everything they had done so far.

"Hmm, I assume," The said lady drawled, her small hand lightly tipping her whiskey glass to and fro and the sound of soft tinkling ice floated in the background of her words, as if trying to show how little she cared. "I don't see what the big _issue_ here is. Why not just, I don't know, kill them? You _are _a well known assassin, are you not?"

His head ached to drop into his twitching hand. "Because," he growled. "That would be stupid, and you're not a stupid woman are you?"

She scoffed. "I was trying to be subtle. I was really asking what the point of all this was. Why are we stalking some bi-"

"That really is non of your concern, now is it?" He snapped, cutting her off non to gently. "Just get back to looking through their schedules, we have things to do, we can't just sit around waiting for them to come to us. Do you understand me?"

She looked away, as through in spite, but he could smell the fear radiating off of her skin. Good. She remembered he wasn't just someone she could toy with. No, he would bite back... along with his shiny little friend too of course. You know the one that took the pretty little bullets and made the pretty little sounds drilling the pretty little bullets into someones pretty little head. Yeah, that's the one.

In fact, he could just see the way the bullet would penetrate her skin so fast, it would be unable to be seen by her little human eyes, and sink through her rib cage to lodge itself in her left lung. He could almost see the way the sac-like object would fill with hot blood, filling until she choked. And then, then he would take his knife, the one he used for special occasions, and he would make lovely designs on her equally lovely flesh, drawing up her arms, down her back, around her legs, and maybe even up her chest.

He could make a beautiful flower, one that just bloomed still covered in a bloody dew, from the center of her bullet wound. He could make art out of something that was ugly. She was ugly. On the inside and out. But her blood was still luscious thick, red liquid, and her skin was still flawless paper. And he could work with that.

And when she was on the very edge, when her screams were so loud it was like music, when her tears were like rushing rivers, he would slowly, painfully slow, drag his pretty, sharp knife down her pretty, soft neck, and drink her dry. His teeth, teasing the flesh, her withering beneath him, gasping for air as she drowned herself with her own blood, the cuspids would sink easily, and she would scream some more.

Wondering why God had forsaken her.

He would drink, and she would feel her life slipping away from behind open, but unseeing, eyes. But he wouldn't kill her, no. He wasn't that kind. It's been a while, he supposed, since he had a nice fuck. He would drag his lips down her bloody cheek and lick her lips, savoring the coppery blood on her tongue and teeth. And he would clean her cuts with his mouth, taking his sweet time as her body became so weak, she couldn't even fight him anymore. But that wouldn't do, because he _wanted _to hear her screams, it made his art so much more beautiful.

And before it was over, and before she was dead, he would take her. No, that was a nice way of putting it. He would rape her, and he would make her wish she was dead so many times, she'd cry some more. Cry bloody tears because that was all she could do. And when he had finished having his fun, and she was no longer an interesting toy worth playing with, he would take his knife, and he would drag it, deliberately slow, across her neck.

And the last thing she would see, would be his feral grin, and she would know, her first mistake was to ever look him in the face, and not turn to run. She would know the reason he was feared. And she would known that she screwed up. But it would be too late. And he would wait until all of the life drained from her beautifully lavender colored eyes.

Soft knocking at the hotel room door pulled him from his sick fantasy and he stared in anger at the eye hole as a feminine voice called threw the door for an ordered room service.

The model like lady raised herself gracefully from from her perch on the couch and glided to the door in a ghostly fashion. Hauntingly gorgeous. He couldn't wait to see her blood as it burst forth from her wounds, coating her skin with a deep burgundy, a delicious color, one that would match perfectly with her eyes that would be filled with fear and horror. He shivered from the mere thought of it.

Licking his lips he watched her allow the younger girl to pass through easily and deposit the cart. She nodded a goodbye and closed the door quietly behind her.

He hadn't realized he had been staring at the door until the female next to him pulled for his attention. "Hey, are you okay? Your eyes, they just turned a really freaky color. Like a dark red, yeah, so weird..." He stared down at her, his enormous 6'9 towering over her small quivering frame. He could easily pick out the smell of fear as it spiked considerably along with the faint twinge... lust. He narrowed his eyes and bent to her level, taking a whiff at her robe clad shoulder, trying to decide if her blood was good enough to try.

But hey, who was he to be picky?

And while she may not have noticed as he hide his face in her luscious chestnut hair that ironically smelt like cinnamon, he gave a feral grin that promised nothing but pain. And he latched his aching hands to her shoulders, taking her down to the thick carpet ravage her mouth with his. His fangs nicking her bottom lip....

* * *

********Riot's P.O.V********

Kali was working patiently at the stove and I was cooing with the small child on my lap that was giggling so happily, it seemed almost like I was watching from outside my own body. Like I was watching a movie perhaps.

Ah, going all dramatic on myself much?

Skylar, amazingly, was still sleeping and I was contemplating going back there to my room so Andy and I could be the first things he sees as he wakes. Not that I was really sure I was the first thing he wanted to see, but still. I could feel pretty good about myself for a while at least right?

Andy, the innocent girl that she was looked up at me in curiosity, wondering why my emotions were jumbled, bouncing from one to another, not staying long enough to matter. And just as I was pulling myself from my chair, the man of the hour rounded the corner, bed hair and all. The scene was so perfect I whipped out my phone and snapped a picture or two while he was still groggy and "unaware".

"Riot," He growled. "Take another picture of me and the phone goes down the garbage disposal."

There was no kidding glint in his eyes and his mouth was set in a hard line. So much for unaware... And damn was he cranky in the morning- no afternoon.

Emmet laughed. "Sleeping beauty have a bad night?" And maybe it was the trick of the light, but I could've sworn his words had a double meaning. Not to mention he had looked me over the moment I had stepped into the kitchen. Like he had been looking for something. A bruise perhaps? Maybe a bite?

Little Andy curled in my lap, her head tucked warmly under my chin. And suddenly I felt really bad. Why was it Skylar had to be treated like a bastard- never mind he actually _was_ one- by his own kind. His friend?

And though I could understand Andy's resentment, Emmet and Leo were a whole other story. While Andy's kind tended to shy away from vampires- werewolves of course, cat shifters didn't mind in the least- and have as little contact as possible. Emmet and Leo were just acting like spoiled bitches. And I had half a mind to tell them too before Skylar beat me too it.

Tuning out the war waging just inches away from my face as Skylar leaned angrily over the table, I stood carefully, keeping well out of the rang of fire, and made my way happily to the fridge. Because if I tried really hard, I could ignore the guys that were just itching for a fight and find some much needed peace that was lodged somewhere deep in my mind.

I pulled out a Pooh Bear sippy cup that had been filled to the brim with cold apple juice, and handed it to Andy. And amazingly it got quiet, and the only sounds were the constant whirring noise of the fan above as it swung almost wildly on its beam, and the desperate sipping of a thirsty toddler in need. Well that _was_ all until the shrill screams of the phone ripped through the soft air. Destroying any mood as the boys began to fight once more.

Kali snatched the phone from its cradle and jerked it to her ear. "Hello?" I was growling in annoyance as Leo's voice overrode the speaking of my sister.

I whipped around and chunked a newspaper at his head, earning myself myself five blank stares- six if you included the small cat perched almost grudgingly on Viper's lap as he joined the rest of us at the breakfast table that had already proved to be _way_ too small since our family had grown- as I shushed them all turning my ear back to the conversation at hand.

"Um, I don't see why not-" Kali didn't sound certain as she looked around, catching my eye, and motioning me over. 'For you' she mouthed and I nodded.

I handed Andy off to Emmet, much to his amusement, and all but skipped to Kali who had resumed her duty to cooking.

"Yes?" I answered, not really sure what to expect. It wasn't often I got calls. Unless it was from Lou or Lou of course, but if that was the case, Kali wouldn't have sounded the way she had. So unsure.

"This is Riot, I presume?" Well, that wasn't anything _close_ to what I had been expecting. The voice was husky and deep, something that would send chills down your back. There was a raw emotion something untamed and dangerous lurking in the man's tone.

"You- uh- presumed correctly. And, who is this and how do you know my name?" I heard the sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line, almost as if the speaker had been rendered breathless. The air knocked right out of their lungs.

"Say that again." The deep voice, that was more like a purr than anything, demanded. The tone leaving no room for any no of any kind.

So taken aback, I didn't know what to do. And normally, I would have flipped a lid being told to do something by a complete stranger, but not _this_ stranger. No matter how far away they could have been, they had scared me shitless. "Uh, right, I, um... Who is this and- and um, how do you know my name?"

Then they sighed, like a content exhalation of air. Like I had pleased them... "Say something else." Again, there was the demanding tone.

"Who the hell is this and how the fuck did you get my number?" I growled, trying to suppress the shivers that were just _begging_ to attack my body.

Then, a groan. So soft, I almost wasn't sure I had heard it correctly. "That's it, again." Okay, um, can anyone say FREAK? I wasn't sure what to do. Repeat or hang up. "Riot." Every time I heard my name by that voice, my stomach did these weird flip flops, the kind you get when you're scared out of your mind but you keep on going because you're not sure if you're going to miss something important.

"How do you know my name?"

They sighed again, though this time it seemed as if in loss. "I've been watching you." My heart all but stopped and I whipped around catching the eyes of everyone seated at the table. All at once they became alert, backs strait, pupils dilated, their bodies ready to spring.

"You've been- watching me?" My voice felt so strangled, like it was tightening up around all of my words, making them unable to be heard.

"But of course, Love. You can't really expect to have someone like you or your sister to be able to go out in public and _not _be noticed." he gave a small chuckle like he was remembering something amusing. The dark sound chilling my skin, seeping into my bones.

"We don't attract that much attention." I whispered, defiantly unwilling to believe my sister and I had attracted ourselves a stalker.

"Oh, but Sweet, that's were you're wrong. If you were good enough to attract three vampires and three shifters like a magnet, making them so obsessed they had to move in, then you've been deemed an attention grabber in my book." Now he was right out laughing, the sound mocking in my ears.

I opened my mouth, though I still wasn't sure I knew what I wanted to say, so I closed it a heartbeat later. "Who is this?"

Skylar stood up so fast his chair tipped. And no one bothered to catch it.

"As much as I'd love you tell you my name, Riot, I can't. And you can believed it's not because I don't want to. I'd feel _honored_ to hear you say my name, scream it even, but that's how life is Love. But don't you worry. I'll catch up with you soon enough. I can't wait. Riot." And the line went dead, the harsh threat still lingering in my head.

I stared down at the phone and the long dial tone screeched. Damn it all to hell. I had a stalker. Just me, he had said my name so many times, like he liked the taste it left on his tongue. I was scared, and for the first time in my life,I had been rendered speechless by the mere voice of a man I had never seen before.

Skylar's hand snatched the phone from midair and tossed it over his shoulder for one of the boys to catch. "Trace it," he growled, his eyes locked on my face. Then there was silence and the clicking of keys as Leo hacked away on the laptop that they had already connected the phone to. A few more clicks before Leo leaned back, his face drawn into a frown.

Minutes that felt like hours slipped.

"There's something wrong with this number. I can't trace it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my computer doesn't register that anyone ever called.... and it's like-"

"It's like what?" Skylar snarled, his inner bitch breaking the surface and rearing its ugly head.

Leo finally looked up, locking eyes with the angry vampire. "The number's not there. It's almost like it never existed."

* * *

****Unknown****

The man ran a hand over his face, not even trying to wipe the smug grin from his lips. It was _her_. He had finally talked to her, and dear God was her voice something. The moment her sister had answered the phone, he had almost mistaken her for her Riot. But the two women could be told apart by their voices if you were paying attention. And it had defiantly not been _her_.

So when he finally convinced the twin to had over the phone to the woman he wanted, he had been totally unprepared. Her voice sent delicious tremors across his skin, down his stomach, and strait to his groin.

Her voice was so delicate, despite her rough exterior. And it was taking every bit of his will power to not to just jump out the window and take off in the direction of her house. He could take on her vamps. After all, he did drink blood, real, nourishing blood, and could take down those wanna-be bitches in a split second. He even had an ace in his pocket for reassuring back up.

And then, then he could have Riot. And despite the warning his boss had given him prier to assigning the mission, he felt the compelling urge to track down her scent, kidnap her, bring her back, strip her bare, and prop her on her hands and knees for his to mount.

He looked down into the terrified face of his 'partner'. She had one of his old ties around her head, gagging her, and some duck tape around her ankles and wrists. She curled naked in the room's corner, wild eyes darting around the room, hair tangled in a bloody mess. Just like a trapped rabbit.

Cuts lingered on her pale skin, still bleeding red, standing out like white against black. Her chest heaving in fear.... God he couldn't get enough of the mere sight.

The pain in her eyes, the whimpers in her breath. He stood silently, stealthy making his way towards her with the grace that only a vampire could possess.

Wide eyes turned to him and she began to pray, to plead with muffled words. He grinned, the act alone to feral she began to sob. Tears leaked over bruised flesh, dirty cheeks. She backed into the wall, knowing she had no where else to go.

He reached out and fisted his hand tightly in her chestnut hair yanking her to him on her hands and knees. He turned and dragged her back to the bed, ignoring her cries, and relishing in the fresh scent of metallic blood as her bare knees were jerked over the rough, coffee stained carpet.

Keeping his hand in her hair, he pulled her closer. "You don't want me to hurt you right?" He asked, her pain bringing him pleasure. She shook her head the best she could while trying to keep from ripping out her hair by the roots. "Yeah, you don't want that. And I don't want that. So you're going to do as I say, right?" She nodded. "Good. That's a good girl."

And he reached for his pants, unbuckling them with a twist of his fingers. They fell to his ankles and she tried to pull away as realization finally hit her hard.

"Bitch," He snarled. "Don't tell me you _lied_ to me. You _did_ say you would do as I asked, right? _Right?_" He gave a sharp jerked and couldn't stop the dark grin that twisted across his lips as tears began to well in her eyes once more. She nodded viciously, scared for her pathetic life. "Good." He reached out and pulled the tie from her mouth, letting it pool around her neck.

He pulled her closer and relaxed against the side of the mattress. "Then suck me." She hesitated, his nails digging into her scalp before she slipped between his legs and took him in one swallow...

* * *

****Kali's P.O.V.****

Riot was a nervous wreck. Every sound she twitched, every crash she flinched. She was trembling, I realized as I tucked her into my side, Andy into her own. The said girl whimpered trying to find ways to sooth her surrogate Mother.

Skylar was pacing, constantly. Around the couch, into the kitchen, down the hall. Then back again. It was like he was just itching to hit something with the way his hands kept fisting, and his eyes would narrow.

He'd steal a glance at Riot, and start up all over again.

Leo hacked away at the laptop, trying to figure out why he couldn't trace the number, much less even _find_ the number that seemed to be hiding from even the computer expert.

Emmet, I had to say, was the calmest out of all of us. He sat perfectly still, resembling a statue, perched on the arm of the couch, a frown on his lips. I wasn't sure what he was thinking about, but then again, I wasn't really positive I wanted to know.

Viper had me balanced on his lap, his breathing even and soft, though I knew he was dying to rip out the man's throat who had dared to threaten the twins. Every one of his instincts were on fire, demanding that he calm his mate, kill his problem, and make her happy. He even told her so. He tapped his fingers on the side table, his nails making that the only noise in the room.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Cli-

"Will you bloody shut the _hell_ up?" Leo snapped from his position on the floor. His patience clipped. He jerked to his feet, the movement ungraceful and lousy. The total opposite of a vampire. He joined Skylar, walking lines in front of his work station. "What the fuck went wrong? I can't figure it out. The number, it's just a damn number! Why wont it show up? I have enough equipment to hack into the God Forsaken Pentagon!"

I was getting dizzy as I tried to watch to people walk in circles, running deep groves in my living room floor.

My kitten hopped into my lap, purring contently as Viper stiffened. Locket, we had named it. Viper had insisted.

He nudged his triangular head under my chin, demanding my attention. I snuggled him close, my thoughts far from here.

The phone rang again.

* * *

****OOC****

****One Week Later****

Riot stood in the art-like room, watching the Professor move easily around the room, moving from student to student. And she was... distressed.

Skylar had disappeared.

Without a word.

The same night of the phone call he had sent her to bed without him. The act questionable all in itself, but no one hadn't questioned it. Though at moments like this, she wondered if it would have made a difference. When they woke in the morning, he wasn't there, a note in his place saying he was leaving, he was fine, and that he'd be back later. A long, long while later.

He hadn't even said goodbye.

He hadn't even said he loved her.

But then again, she had already known that he didn't. So why did she expect as much? Why would she have ever expected as much from a bloodsucking bastered like him? From a vampire. She was beyond foolish now. And there was nothing that could be done to save her.

She still wasn't sure if she was suppose to be angry, hurt, or disappointed.

Ralf, the same Professor from last year, slid past past Emmet who had been put in my class for the new year and stepped up behind Riot. This had become her last class of the night as she did away with drama and took a class that was more productive in life than something that would never have a use for her. Such as acting.

"Riot," Her name rolled off his tongue in that special Australian way, the sound of barely hidden lust made her toes curl. This man had _grown_ over the last year. His height now neared 7 foot and dear Lord, was this the same man she had wrapped around her pretty little finger last year or what? The change was close to impossible. Because sure he had been lean, muscular, and tall last year, but now... ropes of corded muscle with deliciously tan skin were stretched taunt over an impressive body. And that face had only become more handsome.

It was only the first clue that he was farther from human than she had ever imagined. She could have never been more close to wrong.

He propped himself up with two hands on the counter either side of her, his chest pressing into her back, as his hand held hers and brought it with deliberately slow strokes, the lines becoming angry, dark clouds that were hell bent on dominating the sky.

Riot watched as he demonstrated the correct position for holding a brush, whispering husky instructions into my ear as he slipped a folded note into the pocket of my low rise jeans. Patting her head like a child, he stalked past Emmet again, this time more stiff, and was that a growl she just heard exchanged?

She stared at the screwed up scribbles she called a picture and grimaced. This _thing_ may have been ugly, but it was my ticket to staying after class. And right now, she wanted nothing more than to get back at that bastard.

She wanted to slap herself for even _thinking_ about believing in the master of trickery. Because little-stupid-her actually thought... what _had_ she thought? That he thought of her as more than just a good _fuck_? That maybe he had _liked_ her, even _loved_ her?

The brush snapped in her hand.

* * *

And just as she had known he would, Ralf held her after, though this time she believed it was to question why she had "destroyed school property." Not that it was really her fault, she'd like to think it was faulty equipment. NOT her fault.

Sitting on the desk, just like he had the last time they had met like this, Ralf watched her with curious eyes. "What's wrong?" That had definitely not been what she had been expecting.

She blinked. "Nothing."

"Liar." He frowned. "I can feel your anger and your hurt"

"You can feel?" Riot paused, not sure if she wanted to know or not. "What are you?"

"Wolf Shifter."

"I wanna see." Did she really just say that? He didn't look to surprised though. Standing he slipped the paint stained shirt over his head easily and tossed it to the floor and _damn_ if he didn't look good enough to eat.

His muscles bunched like he was readying to spring but all he did was sink down into a crouch.

She watched as the bones in his face shifted, some with pops and some with cracks, and grew longer. His arm bent in a way that shouldn't have been possible and he didn't even flinch. Silky black fur sprouted from all over his body, covering the rest of his skin as teeth enlarged and gnashed together, his glaring eyes with dilated pupils locked in on her.

And then he pounced.

"Shit!" She breathed as the wolf, who was now like a freaking house on legs, towered over her as she scrambled to her hands and knees.

His muzzle pulled back over his long canines and he clamped down, surprisingly gentle, on her exposed shoulder as he slipped closer. His broad chest, even as a wolf was larger than her back and he pressed a paw as big as her hand on the top of her back, just below the neck, and pushed her chest first to the ground.

Her growled low in her throat and she fought back the shock. After all, she _had_ brought this upon herself.

The jeans he had worn when he transformed had slipped from his long legs as his body had shifted from one being to the next, and were knocked away a bit, tucked under the safety of a granite topped table.

And the bite was gone, the weight was gone, and the heat she hadn't even noticed until now, was also gone. And a whining voice in the back of her head had insisted that it come back and lay right back on top of her. She pressed her lips together tightly. Just in case, she told herself.

A hand drifted over the soft pale waves and she lifted her head slowly, not sure of what to do if she came face to face with a naked Ralf. She didn't have to worry about that though because he had donned his dark jeans and held his messy shirt in a loose hand.

"What'd ya think?" He asked, bright eyes gleaming and Riot had never thought to wonder if the transformation actually didn't hurt. If it was the exact opposite of pain...

But the look on his face, the vibrant lopsided grin, told her she was going to have to be more open minded about these things. A medium sized canine peeked over his full (suckable) bottom lip in a cute way. And the child-like excitement too powerful to resist and she found herself smiling back.

"You were beautiful." She assured and his face twisted into a small frown.

"Beautiful isn't very manly," He informed her calmly, correcting her 'mistake'. Having never seen this side of him throughout a full year, Riot found herself caught in the small game of distraction.

And she laughed. "It's not?"

"No."

"Than I am very sorry. There's nothing I can do for you." The look he gave her was something akin to betrayal, like she had kicked his favorite puppy.

Maybe the change was a good thing, she wondered. Before, no matter how young he was or seemed, he had still had the crease marks of previous frowns and the weary look had made itself a permanent home in his tired body. But now it was like he had a 360 mood swing.

She actually envied him. He had a purpose.

She didn't.

Reaching up, Ralf took a smaller hand in his and tugged sending her face first into his chest. She sat like that, stunned, and sprawled messily in his lap. His words vibrated through his body and tickled her ear and she almost giggled before she caught what he had said.

"Now," He had murmured, "back to the reason I held you after...."

It all clicked as his lips descended on her own....

* * *

Riot stumbled down a back ally way, taking the quickest short cut she knew to the nearest bus stop she knew. Emmet had insisted they take the bus because Kali had an appointment and Viper had wanted to go with her for safety purposes.

Leo was still searching for a lead to finding the missing Vampire.

Riot herself, was sick of this. Of _him_. For making her feel as if this was somehow her fault though Skylar had said nothing to indicate that had been what he had believed. But he was still gone right? He had still fucking walked out the door without letting anyone know where he was going... and if he was ever going to come home.

To her... no, not to her. To the boys, she decided. At the moment, she didn't feel worthy enough to even _think_ of him coming back just for her. Hell, now she had nothing stopping her from finding comfort in the embrace of another. Because she needed _something_ to get her through. She needed _someone_ to show her love, because frankly, she had gone far too long without the intimate touch. And it was all starting to catch up with her....

Skylar.... probably.... wasn't going to come back. And she wasn't sure why her stomach clenched at the thought.

A crash to her right pulled her from her thoughts and stopped her dead.

The poor lighting wasn't helping as she squinted in the dark, trying to see through the blinding veil of black.

It happened again, behind her and she tensed more if possible. Than she began her steps again, though in a quicker, brisker, manor just trying to make it back to the watchful eyes of people. Because right now she was feeling more like prey than Riot.

Calm and calculated footsteps joined her own and her head whipped around over her shoulder, panic blooming in her chest. She had almost expected to see a red eyed demon with fangs as long as her arm and globs of saliva dripping a messy trail over cracked lips pulled back in a hungry snarl chasing after her, gaining speed with each earth shattering step.

But there was no one there.

Or rather, there was no one there until, in her fear, she had run into a hard _wall._ A _fucking_ wall- No, wait... walls don't breath, no matter how crazy or paranoid you think you are. And walls _definitely_ don't wrap eager, thickly corded, arms around your back and pull you flush. Until you can barely breath.

The world fell to silence as Riot realized what this dangerous appearance meant. Cars ceased to scream and horns choked on their own blaring shouts. Mice died and fell to the quiet ground below. And as she hesitantly brought scared eyes to the silently cold eyes of her capture as he drank in the sight of her face contorted in fear.

He hardened instantly.

Slipping one hand into the soft fur of her hair he stroked the strands, trying to envision the feel of the silken strands, bunched, clutched tightly in his fist at the nape of her neck as he pounded away in her tiny body, her screams lingering in the air... His hand stuck the pressure point in her neck and immediately she went limp as sleep overtook her.

Whisking her away to her darkest nightmares.....

* * *

**This chapter was a struggle.**

**And damn did it fight me every step of the way.**

**(By the way, I'm thinking this story is going to go 'M' so let me know what you think.... But the temptation is there, believe me. And I can't do that on 'T'.)**

**xrayne13x**

**SkiesTheLimit **

**c.a.s.1404**

**jaceshadowhunter **

**rocktheroxie **

**Berry nYaPpY Rui **

**'Al-ee-sin' **

**Fell **

**Jonasfan391 **

**BlueLightening **

**Enjoy, **

**Ashley.**


	10. Vampire, Werewolves, and Dragons Oh My!

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

As the fog began to clear in her head, Riot's eyes watered. From pain or fear, she wasn't sure. But every one of her joints ached and her muscles felt as if they were pulled tight, ready to snap.

"Riot?" She had only just noticed she wasn't alone in the room, and the thought that it might be that guy from before nearly sent her into cardiac arrest. "You're awake." It was more of a question-like statement. She ignored his persisting words, trying to get her to give him a reason to hit her... not that he would need one.

She was sitting on the ground, that much she knew, and the man reached out despite her flinch and propped her up properly against what she assumed was the bed, one stiff leg folded under her. Her wrists were bound together with a rope so thick that not even a saw could slice through the rough stuff. And her ankle was connected to one of the metal bars protruding from the foot of the bed.

"Riot," He tried again bringing a warm, wet washrag to dab at her face and wipe off the grime that was clinging to her like a second coat. "You need a bath." His nose wrinkled as if to try and prove a point.

This was the man, she told herself, that called her and made Skylar leave.

_No, _you_ made him leave._

The husky voice was the same as it was through the phone though the light, playful tone didn't seem possible to be harbored in a man like him.

Abruptly, the man stopped and turned his head to the doorway just before light knocking echoed through the small bedroom. "What!" Was that a fucking hiss! Riot started to struggle in fruitless attempts to remove herself from the insane asylum escapee that had locked his sights on the unluckiest woman in the world.

And damn did she curse the frigid bitch, lady luck at times like these.

The only notice he gave to her fight was the slight inclination of his head in her direction. He didn't look at her, but instead rose reluctantly to his feet and stalked dangerously to the door. He glanced over his shoulder and pinned her with a gaze that said more than words could ever achieve. 'Move and I'll fucking kill you'.

That glare stayed with her even as he left. It was looming her and taunting her. Showing her all the horrible things he could do while his eyes screamed death with an eerie calm.

She curled in on herself, knees tucked to her chest, face protected by her rough jeans that were probably caked with mud and dirt.

Riot could hear the loud thunk of boot after boot, step after step, as her impending torture grew closer. Immediately she began to tug at her bonds with a renewed vigor. By the time the door swung open she was a frantic mess.

Blood dripped from her wrists that she had rubbed raw. A fleshy mess of red.

Her breathing was uneven and shallow as her wide eyes swept wildly around the small room like a caged animal finally coming to a stop on the blank face of her capturer. "What are you doing?" His voice wasn't angry, merely curious. But that was what made the words all the more scarier.

She couldn't speak around the thick lump in her throat that was choking her words. Or maybe that lump was really just her heart that had jumped from her chest to make a grand appearance.

"I-I-"

"You what?"

She didn't answer. Only ducked her head.

She felt suffocated by the dark and deadly aura that was surrounding him. Lashing out and coiling around her throat. Squeezing and Crushing.

And when he touched her-

She screamed.

* * *

****Riot's P.O.V.****

I couldn't see.

I sat, huddled in a corner, dirty clothes dirtier now because _he_ had touched them. And _he _was filthy.

He had left a while ago, leaving me with a look that was akin to hurt and the soft promise to bring me food and clean clothes later.

The door cracked and a shivering woman stumbled through. I jumped and tried to make myself look as small as possible. Invisible almost.

She didn't even notice me until I (stupidly) demanded a name. And no, my voice did _not_ just crack from fear. I just needed to cough.

_Bullshit._

Her eyes were almost as wide as mine, red and full of tears. Her face was blotchy and her hair a brown mess. There were bruises dancing down the curve of her jaw and her lips was split in what looked like three or more places. There were dark shadows under her eyes making her look a whole lot older than I'm sure she really was.

She never answered but shied away from me in fear, eyes darting around the room, searching for something. And she whimpered, liked a kicked dog.

I didn't even see what she had grabbed before she dashed out. Was she someone like me? Had she been kidnapped by the man and beaten? Was that going to happen to me? Was I going to look like that? Like her?

I needed to get of there.

Now.

I began to chew my way through the thick ropes, going so fast my teeth began to cry.

But I just told them to suck it up.

* * *

The ropes were gone and I was sneaking around the room, trying to be stealthy, _trying_ to find a way out, but of course, there was non.

Minutes past before I finally gave up and grabbed a large wooden box, the corners dipped with gold. Who cares that he was a vampire? I was going to bash his head in and run like hell.

* * *

I sat, crouched, by the door in the shadows waiting for the moment he would open the door. My muscles burned with the strain and I had to stretch them constantly to stay on my toes. Literately.

Hours later, the door finally opened and my target slipped in, quiet as a blood sucking mouse, and glanced to the bed where he had last left me, curled on the covers with only a knot holding my hands.

_Just a little more..._ I was surprised he hadn't found me already... But what did it matter when he was slowly, step by step, going further into the room.

I paused debating on whether just to sneak quietly from the room or hit him when he whipped around, eyes a blaring, angry red, before I slammed the corner of the box in his vulnerable, soft throat because that was the only place I could _reach_.

And then I dropped the box and ran. Ran, ran, and ran.

The door was right there, my hand moving fast to unlatch the chain lock so high up on the door and slammed my hand down on the knob.

Nothing.

It was still locked. "Dammit!" I wailed in a whisper, and tears flooded my eyes as my fingers fumbled trying to get a hold on the second lock. I jerked on the knob again, my heart jumping into my chest as it actually opened this time!

And then a large hand slammed into the wood and shoved the door shut in my face. "NO!" I tried to scream. "PLEASE HELP ME!" I wanted to say.

But life's a bitch.

A hand closed around my throat, squeezing so hard I thought I heard something in my neck crack, and the cruel man dipped his head to whisper in my ear.

"Nah-ah-ah, my little kitty. You're a house pet, and house pets can't go outside. Isn't that right, Riot Love?" My nails clawed and scratched at his hand, and he laughed, a dark sound that chilled your blood, sinking past your bones and settling in the marrow. Torturing you.

My mouth opened and closed, gapping like a fish out of water. My lungs were trying to inflate but could only crumple like beaten paper bags in their defeated misery. Then it was over, just like that.

He dropped me to the floor, and drop he did. I hit the ground with a good thump and a desperately heaving chest, one hand bracing myself and the other cradling my aching neck. Yep, that mean of escape was definitely a no-no. A no-no the size of freaking Alaska!

He knelt beside me and reached out hesitantly. "Dammit Riot, I'm sorry kitten." He pulled me to his chest, my face against his shirt. "I'm sorry."

I wasn't sure what to think, really. Maybe he was _beyond_ crazy. Maybe.... maybe he was going to actually kill me, and then it wouldn't matter how much he apologized. Because well, dead was dead.

Unless you were a vampire of course, and as the thought flickered throughout my mind, I froze so suddenly it surprised the man holding me. The crazy man with no name. What if he- what if he wasn't just a vampire?

How hard had I hit him with the box? I had hit him in the throat hadn't I? But he was talking and breathing fine. He had recovered in seconds...

I stared up into his face, inches from my own, and searched for the signs.

"You've figured it out haven't you?" He finally asked, the question so calm and easy, like he was discussing dinner. "You always were smart, weren't you Riot?" He gave a chuckle, his husky voice so beautiful and frighting. "Yes, I've been watching you." Well if that didn't make my day... "I've been watching you for a long time." His hand began to stroke my hair, fingering the ends thoughtfully.

He ended up leaning against the wall and situated me easily in his lap.

"You know, I had my sights set on you before Citiome contacted me. I'm a hit man you see. I assassinate people, have been ever since I turned six." I didn't want to hear this. I didn't want to hear about how a young boy was turned into a murderer. "But I was a special child. I'm not like those bitches that fancy themselves your _friends_. I was not born a vampire," He sighed. "In fact, I have no bit of vampire blood in me at all."

"You look shocked." He nodded, his gaze tuned faraway. "I knew the moment that I saw you, you would be able to silence Him."

"Who is 'Him'?" I asked, almost afraid as to what I would hear.

He looked down at me, a frown on his face. And he said, "My Dragon." Like it made all the sense in the world.

"I was right you know." He pet one of the dark bruises coloring my arm and goosebumps broke out about my skin. Where was my hoody when I needed it? "He's quiet. If only you knew what your voice did to him- he stops roaring."

I gulped, and then cleared my throat. "What does- what does he roar for, exactly?"

"Blood." He closed his eyes, a coy smile teasing at his lips and my gut twisted just a little more. "Lots and lots of blood." But he stood suddenly, holding me in his arms as if I weighed nothing at all.

He made his way back in the direction of the room but passed it as I searched the hotel room, trying to find some clue as to where I was and how far away from home I could be. And then he stepped into a bathroom, the tub already filled and steam rising from the water.

"Um, I'm not sure-"

"You smell like _them_." And that was all he said.

He sat me on the toilet and reached for my jeans though I jerked away, panic making me dizzy. There was no-fucking-way that I was going to let him strip me.

He hissed and flashed a mouthful of fangs, his eyes glowed so red, they illuminated his face. I caught a glimpse of the Dragon he claimed to harbor and it shocked me to the core.

"Do you fear me, little one?" He taunted, forcing me to his chest with a bruising hand clutched to my arm. Nuzzling his face into the crook of my neck, he breathed out. "You should."

His fingers found the button and zipper on my jeans and pulled them off in one smooth motion, dropping them near the door. When he came back for my shirt I fought to keep it on despite how aggravated he was becoming.

He snarled and finally gave up, lifting me and eased me in the steaming tub. The remaining bit of my clothes stuck to my skin and made movement difficult as the Dragon knelt beside the bathtub.

He reached behind him and pulled a rag from the counter. He wet it, began to stroke my face, and pulled away thick grime and leaving behind soft clear skin.

He reached for me again and even though we fought, water splashing the floor, it still ended with me shirtless and him satisfied. I scowled at the tiled wall and covered my chest the best I could because my bra had been the next to go.

His raked his eyes over my naked skin and proceeded to move on to washing my hair. He slipped lean fingers through my my wet hair and messaged my scalp, mindful of his nails.

He doused my head with water until I could barely breath and all the soap was gone. He pulled the plug and the water whirled down the drain, emptying the tub as the Dragon struggled to pull a wet and reluctant me from the bath.

He dressed me with clothes I hadn't noticed before. They sat, harmless in a folded stack.

He patted me dry with a towel and plopped the clothes in my lap, and then he left the room, closing the door behind him.

I inspected the clothes, black lacy panties with a collared shirt that smelled a lot like the Dragon. No bra no pants. And all I had were filthy jeans along with my own soaking bra. Neither of which I could wear without being uncomfortable.

But I wasn't going for comfort, so I grabbed my jeans and was ready to pull them on when the Dragon entered the bathroom.

He shook his head and wrestled the jeans away from me and lifted me into his arms. We left the bathroom, the light still on and my clothes still thrown in random corners of the room.

Seconds later we were in the bedroom, covers unmade, the lights off, and he closed the door, encasing us in darkness.

* * *

**Okay, my apologies for the wait, but school's been hell.**

**I made swim team though!! ;)**

**Not that you guys really care, right? LOL.**

**Okay, I do realized how short this is, but it was either post it short,**

**or not for another month while I try to find**

**something to write about.**

**Andd, guys what guys, the story is almost over.**

**Just a couple more chapters, depending on the length.**

**I want to thank you for staying with the (yucky) story as long as you have.**

**I know it could use a hand of help the size of Europe but my friend, who SOMETIMES proof-reads can't get my story back in under a week.**

**(Yeah Sam, that was for you! :] )**

**Okayy, now, thank you my lovely reviewersss:**

**1. c.a.s. 1404**

**2. arya-v**

**3. Vendetta 101**

**4. Berry nYaPpY Rui**

**5. rocktheroxie**

**6. 'Al-ee-sin'**

**7. vampireangelwitch**

**8. BlueLightning**

**9. penprincesswrite 123**

**10. rainy-days-don't-go-away**

**-Ashley :)**


	11. Author's Note

Sorry, this isn't part of the story.

Normally, I'm pretty against author notes because they get your hopes up and whatnot, but I felt this was a pretty good exception.

"Ashley's Mom," I just wanted to personally thank you for your lovely review. I'm not sure anyone could have worded your overzealous, unwanted, and really all around pointless opinion. So thank you. Thank you for taking the time out of your obviously very, very busy life to let me know just how much you respect those around you.

I also wanted to commend you on your cowardly method. Anonymous review. Spooky!

I'm actually pretty happy with my life (yes, teenage angst & unpolished skill and all). And I actually prefer NBC5 News to CNN, but you would know that, wouldn't you Mommy dearest?

By the way! I wanted to thank you (yes, again) for making it to chapter 7 in my worthless story, glad you could stomach it for so long! Must be a real trooper!

Love you Mommy!

Yours in Christ,

Your Daughter.

(Ps. Maybe if you pray really hard tonight, God will only send you to the third circle of Hell? Food for thought.)


	12. First Time For Everything

**Humpty Dumpty**

_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,_

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_And all the King's horses, and all the King's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty back together again._

I lay stiff as a board and as quiet as a cat.

The Dragon's breath fanned my face every time he exhaled. Occasionally he would shift and reposition me more comfortably against him, his arms twisted around my body.

He had fallen asleep hours ago leaving me to stare into dark. It was eerily quiet, even his breathing was soft. But my breathing was heavy and irregular and I struggled not to cry. Tears gripped my throat, and pain constricted my chest. What if I never got to see Kali again? What if I never got to hold Andy's little hand and whisper bedtime stories? I always wanted to be a Mother – to experience something my own flesh and blood couldn't seem to manage.

Would any of that be possible now?

I wanted for an answer from any unseen force, just the tapping of a mouse would have been fine with me, but there was nothing but that dark, echoing silence that only seemed to mock me.

* * *

Was it morning yet? I couldn't tell.

No birds sang in arrival to the dawn, no stream of lights filtering through curtains. People didn't talk or laugh, large groups of children didn't pass with loud laughter and hushed giggles. There was nothing but the far away sound of footsteps beating on the bathroom tile down the hall.

The sound of _thump_, _thump_, _thumping_ rose louder and louder until my heart was banging unevenly, bruising itself like a caged bird captured inside my ribs. Then, suddenly, the thumping stopped, allowing me to sit in silence and wait. Wait and wait and wait, even though no one ever came.

How long had it been? A day? Two? It felt like weeks had gone by.

I was going Stir Crazy just sitting and staring, staring and sitting. It was like a never ending cycle. So maybe, when I found myself standing at the door and reaching for the knob, it was an act of defiance on my part. Or just plain stupidity. Either way, the door swung open and granted me even just a few moments of changed scenery.

I expected outrage. I expected to be smacked around a bit. Maybe even another choking session that, this time, would go on for just a little too long. But nothing happened.

Nothing but the ragged breathing that had my chest rising and falling erratically. I twisted my body in a nearly full circle trying to pick out my surroundings. Looking for the dreaded sign of life. I found nothing.

I stepped out. One foot. Another. Waited again.

"What are you doing! You shouldn't be out here!" My heart leaped to my throat and choked me. But the voice was too soft, too feminine. _Not him_. I breathed a steady sigh of relief. "If he gets back and finds you gone-"

"He's not here?" My mind raced. He _wasn't here! _"When will he be back!"

She scowled, my train of thoughts becoming clear to her. "You cannot run away from him, you foolish girl! He lives to hunt!"

"He lives to _kill!_ And he'll kill the both of us if we allow it! _I don't want to die!_" Maybe screaming wasn't the best way to get my point across but the burning in my chest was getting to be too much... That or maybe I had just finally cracked.

Her face smoothed from an almost fearful anger to a calm emptiness. "You're human. All human's die in the end. Why fight the inevitable?"

I snorted. "Because I'm a stubborn bitch. Are you going to try and stop me?" The silence was all the answer she needed.

"I am scared of him, that you are sure to understand." She had a lovely voice... It was a shame that her face was bruised and her jaw swollen. "Please, do not make me hurt you."

"Why do you care?"

"For selfish reasons I assure you. If you left he'd kill me on the spot." I thought that one over, my mind turning it around and checking it for flaws.

"Come with me." It was simple and her face twisted in surprise at the thought of running away. A part of her wanted to flee, the monster was frightening, but her pride held her anchored to the room. "Please. My sister needs me. I can't stay here."

Her face didn't betray her thoughts but her eyes did. I had never seen so much longing before in my life, never seen such raw, desperate emotion. "I never run."

I stared at her long and hard, my mangled wrists a steady ache at the back of my mind and the whispered possibility of freedom caressing my finger tips. "There's a first time for everything."

* * *

**I'm really sorry for the super long wait and the reaaaaally short chapter. **

**I lost my desire to write for a while and while it still isn't fully back, I figured that y'all would kinda enjoy this. (:**


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